Davos Angels hosted a gathering in Davos and brought back a clear message from Europe’s investors: Europe doesn’t lack capital – it lacks coordination, speed, and execution. Fragmentation is the primary factor holding the continent back

Nordic Angels is a private initiative founded by Sweden's leading business angels aimed to develop, strengthen, and streamline the Nordic business sector and startup ecosystem. As the largest investor network in the Nordics, Nordic Angels mobilizes business angels through digital platforms and physical events.

Held alongside the World Economic Forum, the Davos Angels’ brought together Europe’s most influential business angels for an invitation-only gathering on Europe’s capacity to scale its most promising companies in an increasingly competitive global landscape.

The discussions at the gathering underscored a clear consensus: Europe’s core constraint is no longer debated - it is quantified.

Andreas Grape, co-founder of Davos Angels says: “Sentiment toward the idea of “EU Inc.” - Europe acting as a single, scalable market - was broadly positive, though cautious. Investors expressed confidence in the direction of travel, paired with realism about the execution gap that remains.”

Across the discussions, a clear consensus emerged on why Europe continues to lose some of its strongest innovations too early: a clear majority converged on uncoordinated capital across borders as the primary cause, far outweighing regulatory complexity or lack of funding. The implications are increasingly strategic, with over 40% highlighting the growing risk of Europe becoming dependent on non-European technology and platforms if fragmentation persists.

The dialogue also pointed to where angels can have the greatest collective impact. A majority agreed that coordinating capital across borders is the single most powerful lever, with speed seen as critical - acting faster, even without perfect alignment, was broadly viewed as preferable to continued delay.

Based on responses from the attending business angels, the top reason Europe loses its best companies too early was identified as uncoordinated capital across borders (47% of votes), while the single biggest lever for angel impact as coordinating capital across countries (53%). A third strong signal was the need for more structured cross-border syndication and collaboration among angels (41%).

Europe’s competitiveness will depend not on raising more capital, but on coordinating existing capital across borders, acting faster, and scaling its winners at home.

Jan Larsson, CEO, Business Sweden says: “The Swedish model demonstrates how collaboration and alignment between capital, companies and ecosystems translate into scalable growth. Business Sweden partners with Davos Angels and Nordic Angels to connect investors with opportunities in this leading ecosystem and support Europe’s competitiveness at home.”