Joint Letter on the Revision of EU Merger Guidelines

Allied For Startups, together with startup associations and partner organisations across Europe, has sent a joint letter to Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera, urging the European Commission to ensure the upcoming review of the EU Merger Guidelines strengthens Europe’s innovation ecosystem and global competitiveness.

Acquisitions are a key growth and exit pathway for startups, allowing founders to generate returns, recycle capital into new ventures, and fuel the broader innovation ecosystem. However, unclear or restrictive rules risk pushing startups and investors abroad, weakening Europe’s capacity to build globally competitive companies.

Key requests for the EU Merger Guidelines:

• Global competitiveness as a guiding principle: Merger rules should reflect fast-moving global markets and avoid overly static approaches.
• Startup Simplified Track: Streamlined procedures for startup transactions, with limited overlaps, proportionate requests for information, and shorter pre-notification timelines.
• Legal certainty and proportionality: Clear and predictable pathways for strategic transactions, with limited risk of overly broad referrals or burdensome reviews. Minority or non-controlling investments should not trigger in-depth scrutiny unless there is real competition risk.
• Recognise pro-competitive vertical deals: Acquisitions combining complementary technologies, teams, or IP should be presumed welfare-enhancing unless there is evidence of harm. Speculative “ecosystem” theories should not block transactions.
• Account for innovation benefits: Explicitly recognise innovation as a driver of competition and consumer welfare, allowing demonstrable short-, medium-, and long-term innovation gains to be considered.
• Prefer pro-interoperability remedies: When interventions are needed, targeted interoperability or data-access solutions should be prioritised over prohibitions.

Europe needs merger rules that encourage startups to scale at home, strengthen the Single Market, and remain competitive globally. The joint letter reflects the shared commitment of Europe’s startup ecosystem to constructive engagement with the Commission and a regulatory framework that fosters innovation, investment, and growth.

Signatories include: Allied For Startups, AustrianStartups, BESCO – The Bulgarian Entrepreneurial Association, Czech Startup Association, Danish Entrepreneurs, Dutch Startup Association, EBAN – European Business Angel Network, Estonian Founders Society, France Digitale, InnovUp, Invest Europe, Italian Tech Alliance, scale-ups.eu | startups.be, Startin.LV, Startup Greece, Startup Valencia, Startup Verband, Swedish Incubators & Science Parks, Unicorns Lithuania.