EU-Inc proposal draws mixed response from impact investors: ‘On paper, this looks great’

European impact investors are cautiously optimistic following the European Commission’s long-awaited proposal for EU-Inc – but caveats remain.

The new corporate entity promises to let founders register a company online, in 48 hours, for €100, with full access to the EU single market from day one.

Jacqueline van den Ende, founder of climate tech investment platform Carbon Equity, welcomed the news.

“This is certainly a positive development, assuming it is fully implemented,” she tells Impact Loop. “It will enable scale-ups to attract growth capital more easily, while also offering better arrangements for employees, making it easier for European companies to attract and retain talent.”

Thijs van der Burgt, CEO and co-founder of Norrsken Amsterdam, too thought it was a step forward – but added a caveat.

"On paper, this looks great," he tells Impact Loop. “But I think the biggest difficulty is [that it still gives] legal authority to national courts.”

Not quite a ‘28th regime’

The Commission’s proposal falls short of creating a fully pan-European legal structure for startups – also called a "28th regime" – a core goal of the founder-led EU-Inc movement.

Instead, companies will likely still have to navigate 27 national legal systems in areas such as taxation and labour law.

“If this ends up as an optional structure that coexists with national regimes, the real impact will be limited,” Daniel Uusitalo, associate at Dutch impact investment firm 4Impact Capital, tells Impact Loop.

Antonin Leonard, partner at French VC firm Asterion Ventures, shares the concern. "The risk of EU Inc becoming an additional layer rather than a simplification is quite high," he tells Impact Loop.

"The outcome will depend less on the design itself, and more on whether Europe is willing to align on tax, labour and employee equity, which historically has been the hardest part,” Leonard says.

Hampus Jakobsson, partner at Swedish VC firm Pale Blue Dot, says the proposal is “a great start” – but warns it could fall short. He’s concerned the EU might treat the issue as “handled” before the framework is truly useful.

Despite producing more startups per year than the US between 2018 and 2023, the EU had just 110 unicorns at the start of 2025 – against 687 in the US and 162 in China.

Carbon Equity's van den Ende argues the absence of a truly pan-European legal structure will limit how far EU Inc can actually stem startup flight to the US.

“The gap with the US will certainly not be closed entirely,” she says.

Will it help impact startups?

4Impact’s Uusitalo thinks EU-Inc will do little to assist climate tech startups specifically.

"Permitting, project finance, and grid access continue to be dominant constraints,” he says. “Unless there are second-order effects that improve those areas, the practical impact on the most critical parts of the ecosystem will be modest."

Norrsken Amsterdam’s van der Burgt goes further, calling the proposal a “missed opportunity to think more deeply about what kind of startups we want to succeed.”

Van der Burgt says he would like to have seen preferential access to EU funding or public procurement for companies recognised as impact-driven.

"With everything going on in the world and an ever-increasing need for a stronger Europe, I hoped to see a more structured and radical approach," he says.

The EU-Inc proposal still needs approval from EU governments and the European Parliament. The Commission projects 300,000 firms registering as EU Inc within ten years.

Pictured, from left: Thijs van der Burgt, Hampus Jakobsson, Jacqueline van den Ende, Daniel Uusitalo, and Antonin Leonard.