EIF’s incoming chief says Europe’s Tech Champions funds hold 15 unicorns
Europe must give its startups the capital to grow without leaving the continent, Jean-Christophe Laloux said. The incoming chief executive of the European Investment Fund spoke at Wave by Vento in Turin on Friday.
“It’s not enough to innovate in Europe. You also must be able to scale in Europe. And that is really important on the notion of sovereignty,” Laloux said.
Sovereignty does not mean protectionism or isolationism, he said. It means offering European alternatives where things really matter, from critical raw materials to cyber resilience.
Laloux is director general for EU lending and advisory operations at the European Investment Bank. He takes over the EIF, the bank group’s venture arm, on 1 January, the EIF said in July. Ian King of The Times interviewed him.
Funds big enough to keep companies
The bottleneck has moved from early-stage innovation to scaling up, Laloux said. That is the growth stage,...
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