AFS' Private Lunch with Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva and EQT Group at VivaTech

On 17 June, during VivaTech in Paris, we hosted a private lunch with Startup Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva and EQT Group, bringing together members, founders, ecosystem builders, and investors to explore how Europe can build a globally leading startup ecosystem.

The discussion focused on Europe’s startup policy agenda, in particular the recently launched Scaleup Europe Fund, and what it will take to close Europe’s growth-capital gap.

A key message was the need for a more pragmatic, execution-focused approach: deliverable reforms such as EU Inc., ESOP harmonisation, and insolvency rules, alongside better implementation in practice, with competitiveness driven by openness rather than protectionism. It was also clear that public funding alone is not enough to solve the scale-up challenge.

The exchange also highlighted Europe’s scale-up gap: strong startups are emerging, but many still struggle to scale due to limited growth capital and fragmented markets. The Scaleup Europe Fund aims to address this through a commercial, fast, growth-focused approach.

Warm thank you to Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva and Oystein Langberg for joining the discussion, sharing more about the initiative, and engaging so openly with the ecosystem. Thank you also to everyone else who came and contributed to the exchange.