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Europe's Digital Sovereignty Problem: We Built Our Startups on American Soil

Stefan Gimeson··5 min read

Every European startup faces the same invisible problem: the infrastructure they build on doesn't belong to them — and it never will.

The Numbers Tell a Clear Story

US hyperscalers — AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud — control around 70% of the European cloud market. European providers hold just 15%, a share that dropped from 29% in 2017, according to Synergy Research Group.

For EU startups and SMBs, this isn't just a vendor preference — it's a structural dependency.

Look at Your Own Stack

Think about the tools you rely on every day:

  • Authentication? Google OAuth or Auth0 (Okta, US)
  • Database? AWS RDS, Google Cloud SQL, or MongoDB Atlas (US)
  • Object storage? Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage
  • Payments? Stripe (US)
  • Email? SendGrid (Twilio, US) or AWS SES

Every critical layer runs on infrastructure governed by US law — including the CLOUD Act, which grants US authorities access to data stored by American companies, regardless of where the servers physically sit.

This Isn't About Anti-American Sentiment

It's about resilience.

When a single executive order can affect data access for millions of European businesses, we have a supply chain problem — not a technology problem. The GDPR set the rules. The Schrems II ruling reinforced them. But most European companies still build their entire backend on US-controlled infrastructure.

The Vibe Coding Boom Makes It Worse

Thousands of apps are being built daily with AI tools like Cursor, Bolt, and Lovable. Developers are shipping faster than ever. But where does that code deploy? Straight to US clouds. Every vibe-coded app deepens Europe's dependency without the developer even thinking about it.

European Alternatives Exist

Providers like Hetzner, OVHcloud, Scaleway, and Clever Cloud offer real European infrastructure. But they need customers who actively choose sovereignty alongside convenience.

The question for every EU founder: What happens to your business if the rules change overnight?

We're Building the Answer

That's why we created Eurobase — a fully EU-native Backend-as-a-Service platform. Think Firebase or Supabase, but 100% EU-owned, EU-hosted, and CLOUD Act-immune.

Auth, Postgres, Storage, Realtime, Serverless Functions — all on European infrastructure. Zero DevOps. GDPR by design, not as an afterthought.

If you're a developer, founder, or enterprise decision-maker who needs a sovereign backend — sign up free.