“One of the biggest challenges for European startups today is fragmentation,” said Sebastien Marchon, CEO and founder of Belgian expense management software firm Rydoo. “Building a company across Europe still means navigating multiple legal systems, regulatory frameworks and administrative processes. Anything that reduces this friction and helps entrepreneurs scale faster across the continent is a step in the right direction.”
Jeroen Ten Broecke, an associate lawyer at Belgian firm Philippe & Partners, said the EU Inc. proposals could “significantly reduce fragmentation” in corporate law, lowering administrative costs and friction for cross-border activity, particularly for early-stage startups. The standardized, digital-by-default approach should also “make it easier to incorporate and operate across member states,” he said.
Complexity begins at incorporation
For startups just getting going, the administrative burden begins when setting up their company. For Exein, founded in Italy, the incorporation process required a notary and lawyers, creating additional costs and bureaucracy in its early days. “At the beginning, when you are a young startup, this overcomplicates things because you don’t have money,” said Gagliardo. “You have a lot of costs and it’s really time consuming.”