We’ve entered a golden era of innovation, with a new generation of Nordic and Baltic (New Nordics) technical founders emerging in record numbers—more experienced and ambitious than ever before. Starting from Stockholm, we’re witnessing unprecedented momentum in the ecosystem, catalyzed by the ongoing AI platform shift.

The result?

There has never been a better time for the New Nordics and Europe to build their next tech giant after Spotify.

Research shows that technical founders build tech giants. Building a tech unicorn is hard—let alone a trillion-dollar tech giant. They succeed because they solve really complex problems with technology. Founders with deep technical expertise are far more likely to be able to do that. 

A critical reason Europe has never produced a trillion-dollar tech giant is that it hasn’t produced enough technical founders who start companies here. But this is changing. Fast.

A new generation of technical founders is emerging in record numbers—armed with more experience and bolder ambitions than ever before. In Europe, for the first time, more than half of the founders of startups that became unicorns in 2023 and 2024 have technical backgrounds.

Europe and the New Nordics boast world-class engineering universities and exceptional technical institutions. For instance, DeepMind’s origins can be traced back to Cambridge and UCL, with early backers from e.g. Finland and Estonia.

European researchers have played key roles in groundbreaking innovations such as CRISPR, mRNA vaccines, and even the invention of the World Wide Web itself. Many, if not most, of the leading talents in the field of LLMs originate from Europe. The New Nordics, in particular, have a long history of punching above their weight—from Linux to Skype, Spotify, and beyond. In fact, Sweden and Estonia produce the most unicorns per capita in Europe, second only globally to Silicon Valley.

Now it’s time for the next generation of New Nordic entrepreneurs to show the world what an AI powerhouse we can become.

AI has undoubtedly created the most significant platform shift in software since the advent of the cloud, making the entire sector ripe for unbundling and the rise of new global category leaders.

Technical founders are now building companies in the New Nordics and across Europe at a scale we’ve never seen before, and their impact is already being felt. With some of the best technical universities in the world, a deeper talent pool of engineers than ever, and a rapidly escalating pace of innovation, the region is poised for global impact.

This is more than a moment. It’s a movement - a chance to redefine the New Nordics’ and Europe’s role on the global tech stage.

Now more than ever, it’s crucial that we harness the collective wisdom and expertise of our regional founder and AI leadership communities.

It’s time to make Europe great again. And the New Nordics is leading the way.