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Europe has often been disparaged for lagging behind the U.S. in technology. It’s not just a matter of cultural differences: the critics are actually right. Europe may have a leading position in terms of green policies (reusing old wind turbines as sound barriers is a good example), but the region is undoubtedly playing catch-up in terms of transformative tech like AI. Enter the new Scaleup Europe Fund that may help forward the EU’s attempts to finally break free of America’s tech dominance.
The fund’s primary focus is startups working on deep tech. This includes both AI and emerging tech like quantum computing. But what’s the total size of the Scaleup Europe Fund, though? After all, preventing growing companies from moving to the U.S. or selling out to American investors can’t be achieved with chump change. Well, the amount is quite hefty, believe it or not. Managed by the Swedish firm EQT AB (which has an eye for new companies that have a chance for global expansion), the fund holds around €5 billion, which is roughly $5.8 billion.
What company got the first piece of this large pie? That honor belongs to Iceye, a Finnish-based space tech firm that has already raised €1 billion. A mark of future success perhaps, Scaleup Europe Fund values the startup at €10 billion and was happy to contribute €300 million to its development.
What does Iceye do?
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The origins of Iceye can be traced as far back as 2012, when its founders had a vision of a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite weighing less than 100 kilograms (220 pounds). Experts believed this was a pipe dream, but the company proved everyone wrong when a commercial satellite that stayed true to its vision was launched in 2018. Four years later, Iceye shifted gears and made its first large-scale defense partnership with Ukraine after Russia started its infamous invasion of the territory.
The company is a part of an entire bloc of continental space technology organizations working on space intelligence and developing more robust communication systems not dependent on the United States. Thus, picking Iceye is a calculated choice on behalf of the Scaleup Europe Fund that might help forward this particular goal. Broadly speaking, similar European startups have often struggled with funds and would simply relocate to the U.S. or try to attract American investors, and the $5.8 billion fund should change all that.
It’s not like Europe ever really lacked the ideas. One can simply look at the innovations that the European Commission is pushing for as examples. For instance, a satellite system that slows a car automatically when it exceeds the speed limit can be a crowning achievement that only requires some support in implementation and funding before it becomes a disruptive force — and that’s exactly why Scaleup Europe Fund is such a big deal for Europe’s tech revolution.
