Building Europe's global tech edge: why London beats Silicon Valley

At WebSummit 2025, CNBC's Arjun Kharpal posed a painful question for European founders: why is the global tech race always framed as US vs China, with Europe barely getting a mention?

For Archie Hollingsworth, co-founder of Fyxer, the answer isn't about accepting Europe's position on the sidelines. It's about recognizing where the strengths lie and building on them relentlessly.

Speaking on Centre Stage alongside Ling Ge, Chief Investment & Strategy Officer for EMEA at Tencent, Archie made the case that Europe isn't just catching up. It's carving its own path to building globally defining companies.

Watch the full conversation

Europe's secret weapon: talent and focus

When asked what Europe brings to the global tech table, Archie didn't sugarcoat the reality: "Europe is behind, but where it's insanely strong is talent." He pointed to top universities like Oxford and Cambridge, and London's startup community, where ambition is no longer the exception. It's the standard.

Ling backed this up from an investor's perspective, highlighting Europe's "deep technical strength and creativity" and unique pockets of excellence. Finland has game design prowess with Supercell, the Nordics bring user-focused product thinking behind Spotify, and Germany leads in deep tech and automation. Tencent's own investment team is based in London precisely because it's one of the best places to find AI talent.

But Archie went further, addressing a counterintuitive truth about building in Europe versus Silicon Valley. While the Valley offers expertise and optimism, it comes with a downside: noise.

"The strength of building in Europe is that you're allowed to lock in, you're allowed to build without a huge amount of noise around you. Silicon Valley has an amazing feeling of optimism, but it can be a real distraction. You can end up getting sucked into different ideas. The scene is quieter in London and you can focus on building the best products."

Archie Hollingsworth, Fyxer Co-founder

Opting for London over San Francisco

That philosophy isn't just talk. When advisors encouraged Archie to build Fyxer in San Francisco, he chose London instead. Not out of sentiment, but strategy.

"You have to be in the US and we have offices in the US, but for us, the best engineering talent was in London, where our network is," he said. Winning globally means having a presence in both regions. But Archie is certain that London is the right place for Fyxer's engineering core.

Archie lived in San Fran last year and found the talent impressive, but he noted that European founders like those at Lovable and Synthesia are proving you can scale globally from Europe. "The real key is relentless belief that you can and daily execution," he said. "Fyxer is currently in almost every country and the positioning isn't any different whether you're in the US or Europe, you just need to move extremely fast."

The real moat: building your own AI

When the conversation turned to product defensibility (a critical question given competition from giants like Google), Archie challenged a common startup assumption.

"The lazy bet for startups is to assume foundational AI models will keep improving, but we're seeing a plateau," he argued. The standout companies (Cursor, Lovable, Harvey, Fyxer) are bringing model development in-house. It's a contrarian view, but one Archie believes is essential.

"To be an incredible company, you need to have your own AI. UI can be copied; proprietary AI cannot," he said. "Bigger models don't automatically mean better models. In email, the subjectivity (tone, context, switching) requires someone writing the rulebooks. Writing the rulebook happens faster in startups."

It's this approach that's helped Fyxer achieve 90% user-retention after three months. Proof that the company is building something genuinely sticky, not just riding the AI hype wave.

Bubble or breakthrough?

Asked about market hype and inflated valuations, Archie acknowledged last year felt "very bubble-like." He spent time in a monastery program for AI founders where everyone was building incredibly ambitious things. AI doctors for addiction, lab-grown animal organs. "Compared to that, fixing email seemed boring. But our revenue is extremely sticky. We focus on workflow, not wow-factor revenue."

Ling Ge took a wide-lens view: "AI is truly transformative, and much of the funding is going toward real, sustainable infrastructure." She noted that even if a bubble bursts, the real leaders will still emerge. Just as they did after the dot-com crash.

For European founders watching the global tech race, the message is clear: you don't need Silicon Valley's playbook. You need focus, execution, and the willingness to build what the giants can't (or won't).

Europe's competitive edge isn't about mimicking the US or China. It's about doing what the region does best: deep technical work at speed, without the noise.

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