{"id":670771,"date":"2025-05-22T11:50:55","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T08:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/inferiority-complex-is-stunting-european-tech\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T11:50:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T08:50:55","slug":"inferiority-complex-is-stunting-european-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inferiority-complex-is-stunting-european-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Inferiority complex\u2019 is stunting European tech"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Europe\u2019s not lacking talent \u2014 it\u2019s lacking confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the verdict from Meta\u2019s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, who says an \u201cinferiority complex\u201d among European media<\/a> and investors is holding back the continent\u2019s tech industry.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The main reason why the European tech industry is small is a mistaken assumption of technological inferiority on the part of the European media,\u201d <\/span>wrote LeCun in an X post.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps more importantly, there was a similar inferiority complex on the part of investors, which made them less willing to take risks when the mere possibility of an American competitor would rear its head. That has been changing over the last few years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This reluctance to make bold bets is illustrated in the funding gap across the Atlantic. Despite having more than twice the population, European tech firms struggle to attract the investments going to their American counterparts. In 2024, US startups <\/span>raised<\/span><\/a> $178bn, more than trip<\/a>le the $51bn <\/span>figure<\/span><\/a> for Europeancompanies, according to Crunchbase<\/span><\/p>\n

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The \ud83d\udc9c of EU tech<\/p>\n

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

LeCun\u2019s comments came in response to an X <\/span>post<\/span><\/a> by Arnaud Bertrand, the French founder of rental marketplace HouseTrip, who has had his own struggles building a startup in Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bertrand founded HouseTrip in 2009, a year before the launch of a similar startup: Airbnb. HouseTrip also planned to make booking an apartment as simple as booking a hotel, but couldn\u2019t compete with its American rival. Airbnb, which is now valued at over $80bn, grew into one of the world\u2019s greatest tech successes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Housetrip struggled to compete with the cash-flushed unicorn. Two years after Airbnb entered the European market in 2012, Bertrand stepped down as CEO. In 2016, TripAdvisor acquired the company for an undisclosed sum, before incorporating it into the travel site Holiday Lettings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bertrand took to social media today to push back against a recent <\/span>Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/i> article that scrutinised Europe\u2019s tech sector. Published Monday, the piece blamed the region\u2019s <\/span>sluggish performance<\/span><\/a> on overregulation, fragmented markets, limited access to capital, and a risk-averse business culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bertrand agreed with some of the criticisms, but added that they \u201care all secondary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBased on my experience, the key problem faced by European startups can be summarised in one word: patriotism,\u201d he said.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is virtually [no patriotism] in Europe, and more than anything that\u2019s what\u2019s killing EU startups, or preventing them from developing,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Bertrand, one of the reasons his startup failed to beat Airbnb was a lack of patriotism among investors and media in Europe \u2014 a determination to back their own startups.<\/p>\n

LeCun, however, has a different view on the causes. \u201cNot sure I would call this a lack of patriotism,\u201d he said. \u201cMore like a lack of self-confidence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s tech competitiveness will be a hot topic at\u00a0<\/span>TNW Conference<\/a>, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Tickets for the event are\u00a0<\/span>now on sale<\/a> \u2014 use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the checkout to get 30% off.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Europe\u2019s not lacking talent \u2014 it\u2019s lacking confidence. That\u2019s the verdict from Meta\u2019s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, who says an \u201cinferiority complex\u201d among European media and investors is holding back the continent\u2019s tech industry. \u201cThe main reason why the European tech industry is small is a mistaken assumption of technological inferiority on the part…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":670772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw-blurple?filter_last=1&fit=1280%2C640&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2020%2F08%2FUntitled-design-2020-08-14T190320.489.png&signature=6c5d0369fae3e5a1600b2e6ae46fd752","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-670771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}