468 Capital raises $400M to back European startups

Re:468 Capital raises $400M to back European startups by cowl on Tuesday February 01, 2022 @06:28AM (#30161171)

This is such an absurd view. If they did illegal things they would not be able to operate in EU. While some expectations of what is considered acceptable or not have changed in Europe in meanwhile, it doesn't mean they were illegal in the first place. The second point you make is a true problem, the market is fragmented by too many regulations so the cost of establishing a company to the full EU is much greater than establishing it in US. But this makes a case to harmonize more the market. After all it's supposed to be a single market. but the "Single market" part is enforced only for physical goods and digital services goods are still not considered. It's Much easier for the industry Lobby to find a supporter in the fractured EU than in the US and EU in itself is very protectionist of existing business. That's why it will be almost impossible to fund any disrupting Company in EU

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:468 Capital raises $400M to back European startups by capableweb on Tuesday February 01, 2022 @06:34AM (#30161216)

> If they did illegal things they would not be able to operate in EU

The arm of the law might not catch everything, and when it does work, sometimes it works slowly.

Companies like Uber and AirBnb got ahead by skirting the law, and had to change their products in some European countries (like Spain) because lawmakers eventually saw what they were doing. AirBnb are now required to ask for tax ID, and Uber had add artificial delays in order to fit within the law that existed. But when they initially launched, they didn't do these things, it was only after pressure that they changed.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:468 Capital raises $400M to back European startups by cowl on Tuesday February 01, 2022 @07:51AM (#30161768)

There is very clear distinction on something being illegal and something being not defined by law. AirBnB case, at least from what I know on most of countries, the law did not forbid this type activity and yes leaving your house for a couple of days to someone you know for a small recompense was already in use. It didn't make sense to regulate it by law before because it was rare enough. When AirBnB made it usable for the mases then the regulations started to comeup because in that case it started to become a real business. This does not mean it was Illegal before. it was just undefined. The same for example with the data Privacy laws, GDPR etc. these are regulations that have come up as a response to undefined behavior not as a response to illegal behavior.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:468 Capital raises $400M to back European startups by capableweb on Tuesday February 01, 2022 @08:21AM (#30161996)

It's true that laws around leaving your house for a couple of days and renting out temporary didn't require you to setup a business and have a tax ID at hand. It still required paying taxes though, which many avoided.

But that was not the only use of AirBnb, tons of properties were bought and used only for driving what essentially is a hotel in those properties, without registering with the proper entity and paying the appropriate amount of taxes. This was not legal, and never was, as hotels need to have a license, yet AirBnb allowed those entities to continue running on the website until the courts got involved. If that's not skirting the law, I don't know what is.

Now of course, AirBnb requires its users to specify their tax ID before they can let out their places on AirBnb, as the law (already existing since before AirBnb) requires.

[ Parent | on HN ]