Two days ago, the European Commission unveiled one of its most anticipated initiatives for the startup ecosystem: EU Inc., a unified corporate framework designed to simplify how companies are created, operated, and scaled across the bloc.
Positioned as the foundation of a broader “28th regime”, the proposal aims to tackle one of Europe’s most persistent structural challenges – regulatory fragmentation – and, in doing so, strengthen the continent’s competitiveness in the global innovation race.
Voices from across the ecosystem, including Anton Osika at Lovable, Simone Riva at Partech, François Robinet at AVP, and James Shaw at YPOG, offer an early glimpse into both the optimism and scepticism surrounding EU Inc. – and what it could mean for Europe’s startup future.
One framework to replace 27 systems
At its core, EU Inc. introduces a single, harmonised set of corporate rules that companies can choose instead of navigating 27 national legal systems and more than 60 different company forms.
For founders, this could mean registering a company within 48 hours, entirely online, for less than €100 and with no minimum capital requirement.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen framed the ambition clearly, stating: “It will make it drastically easier to start and grow a business in Europe. Any entrepreneur will be able to create a company within 48 hours from anywhere in the European Union, fully digitalised, for less than €100 and without minimum share capital. At the heart of this proposal is a simple principle: ‘once only’”
The scale of the problem EU Inc. seeks to address is well documented. Today, startups expanding across Europe often face weeks or months of administrative delays, duplicated legal processes, and mounting costs. These inefficiencies are not only operational inconveniences – they impact growth trajectories, fundraising timelines, and ultimately, Europe’s ability to retain its most ambitious founders.
According to Dealroom data cited by James Shaw, Partner at the German law firm YPOG, non-European investment accounted for 37.9% of European tech funding in 2025, up 26% YoY, underscoring both the attractiveness of European innovation and the structural gaps that push founders to seek capital elsewhere.
Founders: removing early-stage friction
From the perspective of founders, the promise of EU Inc. lies in its potential to remove friction at the earliest stages of company building.
Anton Osika, CEO and founder at Swedish unicorn Lovable, emphasised this point, stating: “The EU has published its formal bill for EU Inc, a new legal framework that will make building companies a lot easier for entrepreneurs and founders across Europe.
“I’ve seen firsthand how fragmented rules can hold back European talent. EU Inc addresses this directly with 48-hour online registration, zero minimum capital, and standardized stock options, making it simpler to get started and grow.”
The proposal goes beyond company formation. It introduces a “digital-by-default” lifecycle, meaning companies can be registered, managed, and dissolved entirely online. A unified EU-level interface will connect national business registers, enabling founders to submit data once and reuse it across jurisdictions – a move aligned with the “once-only principle”.
Future plans include a central EU register, further consolidating administrative processes. Similar to what we at EU-Startups have begun with our Startup Database and our Investor Database.
Investors: unlocking cross-border capital
For investors, particularly those operating across borders, the implications could be equally significant. Legal fragmentation has long been a hidden tax on European venture capital, slowing down deals and increasing transaction costs.
James Shaw highlighted the extent of this inefficiency: “Europe prides itself on being a single market. But for venture capital and high-growth technology companies, it remains anything but.
“A founder in the United States can raise capital across multiple states without changing a line of legal documentation. In Europe, by contrast, raising capital across borders often means engaging a separate lawyer in each jurisdiction, the equivalent of needing a new legal team for every US state involved in a round.”
He added that fragmentation becomes particularly acute from Series A onwards, when companies require international capital to scale, turning regulatory complexity into a strategic constraint rather than a procedural hurdle.
The introduction of EU Inc. could, in theory, standardise documentation, streamline fundraising, and enable capital to move more freely across borders – though much will depend on how uniformly the framework is implemented.
That caveat is echoed across the ecosystem. Simone Riva, Partner at Partech, pointed to the gap between ambition and execution: “EU Inc has compelling marketing – and on paper, the idea of a single pan-European corporate structure is exactly what founders need. The real test will be implementation.
“It is not clear whether EU Inc can replace that. If it simply becomes a 28th legal layer on top of existing national regimes, it risks adding complexity rather than removing it.”
This tension – between harmonisation and national sovereignty – sits at the heart of the EU Inc. debate. While the framework aims to unify corporate rules, it explicitly does not override national employment or social laws.
Companies will remain subject to the labour and co-determination rules of their country of registration, raising questions about how “uniform” the system can truly become.
Scaling Europe’s ambition
From a capital markets perspective, the proposal also introduces elements designed to improve Europe’s scaling capacity. These include simplified share transfers, support for modern financing instruments, and the possibility for Member States to allow EU Inc. companies access to public equity markets.
François Robinet, Managing Partner at VC firm AVP, linked these changes to Europe’s broader competitiveness challenge: “Europe does not lack ideas, talent or ambition. Across AI, quantum computing, life and health sciences, robotics and energy, European entrepreneurs are building technologies that are not only globally competitive, but systemically essential.
“Yet, Europe continues to face a familiar paradox: world-class science and breakthrough innovation stymied by a structural lack of scale capital, just as global leadership in these sectors is being decided.”
Alongside EU Inc., the Commission outlined complementary initiatives, including a European Business Wallet, potential specialised courts for EU Inc. disputes, cross-border telework frameworks, and tax simplification measures such as the Head Office Tax system and the BEFIT framework. Together, these efforts signal a broader attempt to create a genuinely integrated business environment across the EU.
The proposal now moves to the European Parliament and the Council, with the Commission pushing for agreement by the end of 2026.
As highlighted in the EU’s competitiveness agenda and reinforced by the Draghi Report published in Sept 2025, Europe’s ability to scale innovative companies is no longer just an issue of economics – but of survival.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/03/eu-inc-under-the-microscope-founders-vcs-and-lawyers-weigh-in/
