Scaling Europe

Simon Schaefer, Co-initiator at EU-INC: EU INC unlocks the simplest way to fund and scale a company in Europe

Scaling Europe

Show Notes

EU-INC is a grassroots initiative pushing to establish a unified corporate law framework across Europe. By creating a virtual "28th regime," the movement aims to eliminate fragmented national bureaucracy and simplify how tech startups are founded, scaled, and funded.

Simon Schaefer is a co-initiator of EU-INC who has been driving the movement from the ground up. They just launched a new campaign to get its policy passed within the next 100 days. It's pushing for a single European legal structure that would let startups incorporate and scale across the EU without dealing with 27 different national systems.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction 0:19 - Where EU Inc stands today 0:57 - How the EU process for passing this works 1:44 - Why the original proposal got watered down 3:44 - What's still up for negotiation 5:03 - Why EU Inc wants one shared company registry 7:06 - Pushback from notaries and trade unions 9:53 - Germany's resistance and the fight over insolvency rules 13:28 - Working with EU officials and politicians 16:16 - The moment EU Inc got its name from Brussels 17:44 - How people can help in the next 100 days

More from Scaling Europe

Oct 22, 2026

Masia just closed its first fund at €18m, backed by more than 70 founders, tech leaders and investors from Barcelona. It invests in startups with ties to the city at the very earliest stage, and connects them with some of the best funds from around the world.

Oct 19, 2026

It’s easy to start selling online today, but growing an e-commerce brand into a much bigger business is still really hard. ZyG takes over the work of scaling for brands with great products, and its AI agents run everything from marketing to customer support.

Oct 14, 2026

Attio just launched a new version of its CRM built for a world where AI agents do more and more of the work. Attio now handles 1.6 billion API calls a month, with usage growing 50% every month.

Oct 8, 2026

Singular is a Paris and London based venture firm backing some of Europe's most exciting early stage companies, from Basecamp Research to Aikido.

Oct 5, 2026

Atomico is one of Europe's best known venture firms, backing tech companies from their early days all the way to going public. Europe now produces as many new tech companies as the US, and a lot of them will need big funding rounds as they grow.

See all episodes →