Last night, I went to a techno-optimist meetup at a hacker house in Berlin.

Europe's tech scene is coming ALIVE again.

15 observations I wrote from the evening 🧵:
Something fundamentally shifted in the last 5-6 months

This was very obvious to everyone: the "vibe shift" is felt throughout the ecosystem.

US politics are uniting Europeans more than ever.

Like a shared sense of "it's our time to show we can do shit on our own again."

Europe's tax collectors are harming our economic future.

But 1 fiscal policy change could reverse the damage.

It'd cost almost nothing long-term.
And it'd create massive economic returns.

Here's the radical tax policy every European nation should copy 🧵: First, let's face the brutal reality:

• US startups raised $162.7B in 2024
• EU startups? Just $39.5B
• European founders flee to Silicon Valley daily
• Tech talent exodus accelerating

But it's not about culture or talent - it's about structural barriers.

If you're a scientist in America right now, Europe just made you an offer you can't refuse:

€500M.
7-year guaranteed funding.
Unprecedented academic freedom.

Right as Trump slashes US research funding.

The shocking EU strategy that aims to poach America's brightest 🧵: Yesterday at Sorbonne University in Paris, Emmanuel Macron & Ursula von der Leyen announced:

• €500M specifically targeting American scientists
• Higher grants + longer contracts for researchers
• Fast-tracked immigration for top talent

The message was crystal clear:

While the US produces unicorns weekly, Europe's founders drown in paperwork across 27 different countries.

But 15,000+ tech leaders just forced the EU to finally address its biggest innovation killer.

Why "EU Inc" could make Europe the world's most powerful startup ecosystem: First, let's face the brutal truth:

Europe has world-class talent. Elite universities. Brilliant founders.

Yet we're still miles behind America in creating global tech giants.

Why?

Because starting and scaling a company across Europe is a regulatory NIGHTMARE:

A German space startup just made history, and nobody's talking about it.

ATMOS Phoenix became the first private European company to enter space and return through Earth's atmosphere.

This changes everything for Europe's space industry.

Here's why this is a big deal 🧵: On April 21, ATMOS's Phoenix 1 capsule:

1. Launched on SpaceX's Falcon 9
2. Orbited Earth
3. Then successfully re-entered our atmosphere.

This has never been done by a private European company before.

And founded in 2021, ATMOS isn't your typical space company...

Europe's startup scene is EXPLODING with fresh funding.

While everyone's obsessed with Silicon Valley hype, European founders are quietly building the future and raising massive rounds.

Check out who just scored serious funding this past week 🧵:


🇩🇪 ARX Robotics (€31M raised) builds autonomous military ground vehicles that operate without human control.

Munich's defense tech creates unmanned systems for dangerous operations with Mithra OS:

The first AI operating system that can be installed on existing military fleets.

The most expensive mistake in American history:

Choosing highways over high-speed rail.

Meanwhile, Europeans travel between major cities in half the time at a fraction of the cost.

Here's why Europe's transportation network leaves America's in the dust 🧵:
First, let's look at the shocking numbers:

Europe: 9,000+ km of high-speed rail
USA: ZERO km of true high-speed rail
European trains: 320 km/h top speeds
American trains: Mostly under 130 km/h

The entire transport philosophy is different.

But how did we get here?

Europe already has the HIGHEST-QUALITY food standards in the world.

The EU banned 1,300+ chemicals that Americans unknowingly eat every day.

But the gap is widening even further.

8 European AgTech companies making the world's healthiest food even healthier:


🇫🇷 Naïo Technologies ($54.7M raised) creates autonomous robots to handle weeding and harvesting without humans.

I'm impressed by how perfectly precisely their Oz and Dino robots navigate, freeing farmers from labor-intensive tasks.

Already 350+ units working fields worldwide.

I’m based in the EU.

Europe's comeback is HAPPENING NOW.

After 20 years of economic stagnation, the EU just launched its most radical pro-growth plan ever.

The "Competitiveness Compass" blueprint that could make Europe a world superpower again 🧵:
First, understand the crisis that forced this change:

Europe's productivity has been lagging behind major economies for 20+ years.

Only 4 EU companies are in the world's top 50. Pathetic.

The US economy is now 50% larger than the entire EU.

But here's what changed everything:

Nature spent 3.8 BILLION years perfecting human anatomy.

Boston Dynamics ignored it.
Tesla dismissed it.

But Clone Robotics copied it — creating 1,000+ synthetic muscles, 206 bones, and tendons that work EXACTLY like yours.

Here's why it changes everything about robotics 🧵: While everyone's obsessed with Boston Dynamics' parkour robots and Tesla's clunky Optimus prototype...

A small team in Wrocław, Poland created something fundamentally different:

An android with actual artificial MUSCLES instead of motors and gears.

The Russia-Ukraine war exposed Europe's glaring military weakness.

But now we’re unleashing a wave of military innovation not seen since World War II.

10 European defense startups reshaping the future of modern warfare🧵:


🇩🇪 ARX Robotics opened Europe's largest production facility for military robotics in February.

Their autonomous ground systems handle logistics & surveillance in environments too dangerous for humans.

No remote operators - these robots make their own decisions in real-time.

The Ukraine war was Europe's wake-up call.

Now, the continent is unleashing a wave of military innovation not seen since World War II.

These 10 European defense startups are reshaping warfare as we know it 🧵:


🇩🇪 ARX Robotics opened Europe's largest production facility for military robotics in February.

Their autonomous ground systems handle logistics & surveillance in environments too dangerous for humans.

No remote operators - these robots make their own decisions in real-time.

Everyone talks about Musk, Bezos, and Zuck.

But Europe's tech billionaires built empires worth $80B+ while staying completely under the radar.

From revolutionizing payments to searching for aliens...

Here's how the 10 richest European tech founders spend their billions 🧵:


🇩🇪 Hasso Plattner ($15 billion) transformed enterprise computing when he co-founded SAP in 1972.

He took his fortune and created the Hasso Plattner Institute, pouring millions into IT education across Germany.

His foundation now funds groundbreaking medical research.

Google has a secret startup in England with a moonshot mission:

"Solve all disease with AI."

Founded by the man who cracked the 50-year protein folding problem...

Big Pharma is betting $3.5 BILLION this will work.

How Isomorphic Labs is changing drug discovery forever 🧵:
First, let's meet Isomorphic Labs - the London-based Alphabet company that's redefining how we discover drugs.

Their goal? Nothing less than "solving all disease with AI."

That might sound impossibly ambitious, but founder Sir Demis Hassabis has the credentials to back it up:

The most overlooked tech revolution is happening in Europe right now.

While everyone obsesses over AI, Europe is quietly dominating ROBOTICS.

10 European robotics startups reshaping our physical world 🧵:


🇳🇴 1X Technologies ($100M) just created humanoid robots that can actually work alongside humans in real homes.

Their NEO robot moves naturally through your space, responds to voice commands, and handles physical tasks without breaking things.

OpenAI and Samsung are already backing them.

3 broke Swedish students forever changed online shopping with ONE genius idea:

"Buy now, pay later."

Swedish bankers laughed in their face.

But now they're heading for one of Europe's biggest IPOs EVER while American rivals can't even turn a profit.

Here's how they did it 🧵:
April 10, 2005 - exactly 11:06:40 am.

In a tiny Stockholm bookshop called Pocketklubben, three college friends processed their first-ever transaction:

A Swedish customer bought a book WITHOUT paying a cent upfront.

This moment changed online shopping forever.

The EU is about to kill GDPR as we know it.

After 7 years of:

• Crushing European innovation & startups
• Making American tech giants even stronger

Brussels finally admits it: GDPR was an economic disaster.

Here's why this rollback could save Europe's dying tech scene 🧵: First, understand just how destructive GDPR has been since 2018:

• Disproportionate costs for SMBs
• Venture in EU startups down
• 47% fewer app launches
• 1000s of startups moved operations to US

The numbers don't lie.

But here's what makes GDPR truly devastating:

The world's most intelligent robot isn't from Boston Dynamics or Tesla.

It's from a German startup you've never heard of.

While Silicon Valley makes demo videos, they've quietly secured €1B in orders.

How NEURA Robotics is leading the robot revolution from Europe 🧵:
Meet Neura Robotics - the German company that's redefining what robots can do.

Founded in 2019 by David Reger in Metzingen (near Stuttgart), they've grown from zero to 300+ employees in just 6 years.

Their mission? Build robots that can truly COLLABORATE with humans.

I'm sick of how bearish everyone is on Europe.

Q1 just finished and it was an ELECTRIC quarter for European startups.

Check out these European tech giants that raised $100M+ in Q1 2025 🧵:


🇲🇹 VistaJet ($600M) is changing private aviation with its silver and red jet fleet serving 187 countries.

Its subscription model lets corporations and governments access luxury air travel without aircraft ownership risks.

Will transform how the elite move across continents.

Europe can't AFFORD to defend its skies from drone attacks.

The Pentagon knows it.
The Kremlin knows it.
Everyone knows it.

But this Swedish tech founder created a €10,000 missile to change the equation.

Why the Kreuger100 just reshaped the economics of modern warfare 🧵:
In 2023, a small team in Stockholm asked:

What if you could take down million-dollar military drones with missiles that cost less than a used Toyota?

For decades, this was near-impossible economically.

Every effective anti-drone missile needed:

Everyone says Europe can't compete with America in tech.

But Mistral's 'Le Chat' just proved them wrong:

• 13x faster than ChatGPT
• 100% open-source
• Completely free (vs $20/month)

The European AI breakthrough Silicon Valley didn't see coming 🧵:
The numbers are mind-blowing:

• The FASTEST AI model on the market rn (see video below)
• Founded just over 1 year ago
• Already worth $6.2B
• Trains models at 1/5th OpenAI's cost
• Powers 40% of France's biggest companies

Meet Mistral AI...