it's because Europe is a continent of 20+ different large languages and cultures. In Sweden everybody speaks Swedish and nobody uses cash. In Germany, nobody speaks Swedish and everyone uses cash. There is no homogenous market like in the US or China where you can blow up some product to 300+ million people.

That's the reason why there are fewer startups in Europe. Europe has plenty of large technology companies if one stops equating technology with "user facing smartphone application". They just happen to be export oriented, or pharmaceutical or manufacturing and transport companies.

Trying to copy the US or China in producing rapidly growing startup companies is in my opinion foolish and we shouldn't buy into the constant hype of just trying to emulate America, but rather aim to increase where European companies advantages lie, in integrating high technology into existing economic sectors that integrate with industrial production.

Not only is this much better suited to the economic and social European environment that simply isn't accepting of the "break the rules, worry about the problems later" mentality of internet statups, it's also arguably much more equitable and reaches a larger section of the labour market.