US investor eyes European lab spinouts as San Francisco builds bridge for founders

Sifted reported that the shift is not limited to founders and investors in London and Berlin. Bain Capital Ventures is specifically watching movement out of large European research labs, the report says, framing those departures as a potential source of new company formation in Europe.

In a separate dispatch published the same day, Sifted described a growing ecosystem in San Francisco dedicated to European founders. The author wrote that a recent trip to California, expected to be about Americans, turned into four days surrounded by Europeans and an increasingly sophisticated support network for those crossing the pond. Sifted said it found an entire ecosystem of investors, accelerators and founder communities geared toward helping Europeans make the move to the US.

Another Sifted report published on Oct. 13 examined physical AI in Europe. It said physical AI is booming in the region, but success will be defined by incumbents' willingness to adopt the technology. According to the report, Paladin Capital Group managing director Nazo Moosa said Europe has a real shot at building champions in physical AI but the region's success will depend on the willingness of industrial players to adopt the technology. The report asked what it would take for Europe to win in physical AI.

The reports together focus on two forces shaping Europe's tech scene: transatlantic talent and investment flows, and the adoption of new technology by European industry. Sifted's San Francisco dispatch focused on the infrastructure being built to move European founders to the US, while its physical AI report focused on whether European industrial players will deploy the technology. The Bain Capital Ventures report focused on research-lab departures as a signal for where the next large European companies could come from.