Key Points
The head of French national investment bank Bpifrance has painted a harsh picture of Europe, saying the continent is trapped between the two largest economies of the world and cannot fund its own future critical industries. Nicholas Dufolkook warned that Europe is being overcome by Chinese industry and US technology, and that exporting savings is accelerating the decline in the economy. “I’m sorry my vision has become radical, but we are double colonized. Industrially colonized by the Chinese and digitally colonized by the US,” Dufourcq said last week at IPEM, a private capital conference in Paris. “Not the future. The outcome is now,” he suggested, the core of the issue lies in a large pool of private and institutional capital in Europe that are not invested in homes. Even European super-height individuals, family offices, and property managers usually pour money into conservative assets like real estate, and then into US technology when they want to take on more risk, he said – instead of supporting homemade innovators. “European savings when they are invested in risk-taking assets, they go to the US,” citing the challenges facing French quantum computing startup Quandela. Bpifrance, a French sovereign wealth fund that manages approximately 100 billion euros ($117 billion) of assets, is taking part in Quandela’s three-round investment, according to Factset. Quandela did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment. According to Pitchbook data, US ventures raised almost four times the capital they received in the first half of 2025 than their European counterparts. “We desperately need private capital to fund the future of Europe’s deep technology,” Dufourcq said. Risk-on vs. Risk-off BPifrance Chief believes this “failure” is attributed to deep cultural disparities. He contrasts with the “California culture” of Europe, and views investors as a “obligation” to fund high-risk, high-growth startups to ensure future control. “Without that culture in Europe, we will continue to invest in tourism, wine, real estate and US technology,” he said sarcastically. Last week, Harry Stebings, founder of VC Fund and Podcast 20VC, showed that in the UK there is a “risk-off mindset. America has a risk-on mindset.” He resembles CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.” He said his VC company raised between $800 million and $850 million. Of that, $750 million came from the United States. “I mean, that’s amazing. If you make a lot of money for investors, everything goes back to the US,” added Stebbing. However, when it comes to the open market, Sweden is hitting a downtrend affecting Europe. This is because it has raised more than $2 billion in public releases so far this year. Experts say that the Stockholm stock buoyancy market is attributed to Swedish culture, which accepts higher risks from stocks compared to bonds. While Bpifrance is actively funding the strategic sector, Dufourcq acknowledged that state intervention alone is not enough to counter the trend. “We need to raise the level of capital allocation aggression in Europe towards our own interests,” he added.
