Rather funnily, we had a Twilio in Nottingham too many years before Twilio was founded.
The difference between EU and American startups is that there are VCs investing huge sums in US companies so they can do mass advertising.
I don't think funding as such is the main problem in Europe though. We do have a few really rich tech people, as well as a lot of old wealth. What we don't have is the thousands of semi-rich people in the wake of the tech giants that can "repeat the cycle". Something especially needed since we haven't been spared the increase in housing costs.
1. They had the money to get the startup going 2. They had the technical expertise to (mostly) select good investments and cut through the bullshit. 3. They had experience with startups themselves; they were excellent mentors and had industry connections besides.
Now the system is in place, it seems rather magical.
I suppose Uber's ease of use has inspired other companies, so it's great there was some competition. But now if Uber wants to return to Denmark, they must also obey the law.
I think in Europe we prefer to not have too much "disruption" and "lobbyism".
The big ongoing corruption case in Denmark right now is an IT company that paid for a $50,000 Dubai "research" trip with IT-bosses from the the local government (in hope of making it back for selling too-expensive IT equipment to the state)
There's a lot of people involved -- so far, a government employee has received a 4 month non-suspended prison sentence for receiving about $7,000 worth of iPhones etc.