--- title: "Europe must think bigger to create global technology champions" id: "90380" type: "post" slug: "europe-must-think-bigger-to-create-global-technology-champions" published_at: "2026-10-07T10:54:00+00:00" modified_at: "2026-10-07T22:55:07+00:00" url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/europe-must-think-bigger-to-create-global-technology-champions/" markdown_url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/europe-must-think-bigger-to-create-global-technology-champions.md" excerpt: "Fragmented markets and limited access to growth capital risk forcing Europe’s most promising technology companies to look elsewhere, leading Baltic investors have warned. Europe must […]" taxonomy_category: - "Business" publisher: "Estonian World" language: "en-GB" author: "Sten Hankewitz" author_url: "https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/" --- # Europe must think bigger to create global technology champions ![From left, Sten Tamkivi, Rainer Sternfeld and Taavi Veskimägi participating on a panel at the Baltic VCA summit. Photo by Tiit Tamme.](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Day-I_Baltic-VCA-summit-26_Tiit-Tamme-photo_073-1024x675.jpg) From left, Sten Tamkivi, Rainer Sternfeld and Taavi Veskimägi participating on a panel at the Baltic VCA summit. Photo by Tiit Tamme. By [Sten Hankewitz](https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/) · October 7, 2026 · [Business](https://estonianworld.com/category/business/) · 3 minutes of reading **Fragmented markets and limited access to growth capital risk forcing Europe’s most promising technology companies to look elsewhere, leading Baltic investors have warned.** Europe must produce technology companies valued at €100 billion or more if it wants the sector to make a meaningful economic impact, according to investors speaking at the Baltic VCA Summit in Haapsalu in late August. Sten Tamkivi, a partner at Plural, and Rainer Sternfeld, a partner at NordicNinja, argued that geopolitical tensions were reshaping capital flows just as Europe sought greater technological independence in defence, energy, space and other strategic industries. Taavi Veskimägi, a partner at Sentris Capital and 2C Ventures who moderated the discussion, said a stronger European single market was crucial for Baltic companies seeking to grow. “When trust between long-standing allies begins to erode and allies become economic rivals, we need to ask whether Europe’s single market can provide our companies with the scale they need,” he said. ### The €200 million funding gap National industrial policies and protectionism were fragmenting the market, Veskimägi added, while a genuine single market had never developed in sectors such as defence. However, efforts to bring supply chains back to Europe could create opportunities for the Baltic states. [https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Day-I_Baltic-VCA-summit-26_Tiit-Tamme-photo_092-scaled.jpg](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Day-I_Baltic-VCA-summit-26_Tiit-Tamme-photo_092-scaled.jpg) From left, Sten Tamkivi, Rainer Sternfeld and Taavi Veskimägi participating on a panel at the Baltic VCA summit. Photo by Tiit Tamme. Tamkivi said one measure of a startup ecosystem’s maturity was the distance founders had to travel to secure funding. A company seeking €50 million could probably still find a lead investor in Europe, he said, but one looking for €200 million would most likely have to turn to the US. “Ten years ago, we would also have called Chinese investors, but because of geopolitics, that is no longer the case,” Tamkivi said. Europe therefore needed to create companies capable of competing globally rather than building technology solely for its domestic market. “If Europe’s GDP is around €20 trillion, we need to build companies worth €100 billion to €200 billion or more to have a meaningful impact,” Tamkivi said. “We need to build the next ASML, the next Spotify and the next Revolut. We need to build something the world needs.” ### Thinking like a world champion The challenge was not merely to establish global companies in Europe, the panellists said, but to ensure they could secure enough funding to remain there rather than move elsewhere in search of capital. Sternfeld said Europe’s entrepreneurs and investors needed to raise their ambitions. “If you think small, you get small results,” he said. “If your ambition is truly big, then even failing to achieve it creates meaningful momentum. Every entrepreneur needs to think like a world champion.” [https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Spotify_HK_Stockholm-scaled.jpg](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Spotify_HK_Stockholm-scaled.jpg) Spotify’s headquarters in Stockholm. Investors at the Baltic VCA Summit cited the company as a model for the global technology champions Europe needs to produce. Photo by Goombah, released under CC0 1.0 Universal. The Baltic VCA Summit was held in Haapsalu on 27 and 28 August, bringing together investors and entrepreneurs from across the region. First organised in 2018, it is the Baltic private equity and venture capital sector’s largest annual gathering. The event was organised by the Estonian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. Its members collectively manage more than €3 billion in assets. ## About The Author ![Avatar photo](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/local-avatars/15/1707599474-bpfull-100x100.jpg) [Sten Hankewitz](https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/) Sten Hankewitz is a lifelong journalist and the Executive Editor at Estonian World. Having lived in Estonia, Spain, the UK and all around the US, he now resides in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He loves to write and besides working at Estonian World, he [writes books](https://estonianworld.com/culture/the-grand-illusion-estonian-worlds-sten-hankewitz-publishes-a-novel-about-growing-up-in-the-soviet-union/) and contributes to other outlets. He has strong convictions and shows them unashamedly. You can follow Sten on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@stenhankewitz) , [X](https://twitter.com/stenhankewitz) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/shankewitz/) . You can also [email him](mailto:sten@estonianworld.com) .