Abstract
Unicorns are privately owned companies that are valued above $1bn. New technologies, such as wireless telecommunications and artificial intelligence, have provided the foundations for novel value propositions, which, in conjunction, with a favourable financial environment has increased the population of unicorns worldwide. However, the corresponding European population lags considerably behind the USA and China. To understand why we explore the relationship between the European venture-capital industry and the business unicorn ecosystem. Our findings suggest that IoT’s technological standard fragmentation limits the growth potential of start-ups. Moreover, the European Union has to develop policies that not only increase of the population of venture capital industry but also their survivability and their corresponding collective experience to support the growth of new technological ventures across the continent.
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Goumagias, N. (2020). The Internet of Things in Europe: In Search of Unicorns. In: Cunningham, J., Whalley, J. (eds) The Internet of Things Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47364-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47364-8_3
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