Backed by the Holy Trinity of European Seed: 20VC, Point Nine & Adjacent, and the industry’s leading mobile gaming leaders, Project Europe is set out to find, fund, and mentor the next generation of founders and build the most defining companies.
The program offers a €200,000 investment from the idea stage onward in exchange for 6.66% equity if leading to 10-20 founders every year. Participants receive one-on-one mentorship from Project Europe Partners, masterclasses from top global experts in sales, growth, and product operations, and on-demand access to 20VC’s media channels.
Project Europe’s Manifesto
- Project Europe aims to drive European innovation. It does not follow any existing political movements and will remain independent of political parties and ideologies.
- A core pillar of Project Europe is to encourage the next generation to take greater risks and make entrepreneurship a worthwhile endeavour in Europe.
- Project Europe Founders can move their businesses outside of Europe, or build a remote organisation across continents; our aim is to nurture the creation of tech companies with European roots.
- The vision for Project Europe is that it becomes an independent organisation promoting entrepreneurship at the grassroots level with more founders and partners contributing for future cohorts.
The investors include former King leaders Stephane Kurgan, Riccardo Zacconi, Sebastian Knutson, and Unity’s David Helgason. The full list of investors can be accessed here.
Criteria for the program
- You are under 25 years old.
- Solving hard problems with technical solutions.
- You have an idea or have been tinkering around a thesis.
- You start your company in Europe.
- No prior education/funding necessary.
Official statements
Harry Stebbings revealed that in the first 24 hours, Project Europe had 600,000 site views and 1,000+ applications.
I started 20VC as an 18 year old from a bedroom in London.
Harry Stebbings, Founder of 20VC
It is time to change the narrative that Europe cannot build massive companies.
Europe can and will build the most defining companies of our time.
Enter Project Europe.
125 of the best European founders coming together to find, fund and mentor the next generation of unwaveringly ambitious founders.
In 10 years time, there will be several 10,000 person companies that stem from Project Europe.
This is our time. LFG!
I think it took me a total of 2 minutes to get back to Harry Stebbings when he asked me to be a small part of Project Europe initiative, simply because there is an incredible level of underlying value in it.
Rina Onur Sirinoglu, CEO & Co-Founder of Spyke Games
When we started with Peak in 2010 in Istanbul of all places, we needed to show VCs where we were based on the map. Look how far we’ve come in the past 15 years or so as an ecosystem. Even in gaming alone, Europe has been home to such a high level of exciting companies with an incredible speed of adoption and progress.
People who know me, know that I’m also very protective of my time and attention – purely because what I try to do demands almost all of it, but this mission was worth the attention. Can’t wait to witness more amazing teams emerge from Europe—in gaming, consumer, and beyond!
We have brought together 125 of Europe’s best founders, including Tobias Lütke and Ilkka Paananen, to back and support the next wave of generational entrepreneurs coming from Europe.
Fabien Kamberi, Co-Founder of Slay
Say hi to Project Europe. It’s time for a vibe shift; great companies have always been built here.
Super pumped to build this with Harry Stebbings, Kieran Hill, Paul Bonnet, and my founder friends Din Bisevac, Mati Staniszewski, Rina Onur Sirinoglu, Max Linden, Victor Riparbelli, Ferdinand Dabitz, Joel Hellermark
Proud and excited to be part of hashtag#ProjectEurope! Never has this initiative been more needed. We need to change the narrative. Massive companies can and will be built in Europe! Let’s do this! 🔥🔥🔥
Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell
