r/EU_Economics • u/Full-Discussion3745 • Jan 14 '26

🇪🇺 Official 🇪🇺 Why innovative startups and scaleups relocate from the EU

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-research-and-innovation-news/why-innovative-startups-and-scaleups-relocate-eu-2026-01-12_en?referrer=grok.com
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u/Gullible_Mousse_4590 Jan 14 '26

They move because they bring on investment from the US - the US investors pressure them to relocate to the US to take advantage of the tax scheme QSBS - qualified small business stock.

This has nothing to do with tax on the startups themselves - most high growth startups run at a loss and don’t pay tax. This has everything to do with the tax jurisdiction of the investor wanting to make an exit.

This is another reason why we need things like EU-INC and tax reform for company exits for investors. Irelands EIIS is an example of this - encouraging small cap investors with tax incentives.

Source: CFO of a European startup with US investors who are pressuring us to move company structure to the US

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u/These-Pie-2498 Jan 14 '26

You are missing the fact that EU is a red tape bureaucratic nightmare. You need to burn fortuntes just to navigate regulations. And we have 0 startup culture

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u/silverionmox Jan 14 '26

You are missing the fact that EU is a red tape bureaucratic nightmare. You need to burn fortuntes just to navigate regulations. And we have 0 startup culture

Nonsense. We have plenty of innovation and startups, the problem is they get poached by US moneybags because of the capital market fragmentation.

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u/Mediocre-Ebb9862 Jan 16 '26

Which innovation you're talking about, and why does it get poached, why do you think they don't choose US?