South Summit 2026: AI convergence in a mature European ecosystem

South Summit 2026, held in Madrid from June 3^rd to June 5^th, underscored the maturity of the European ecosystem at a time when AI established itself as the major cross-cutting trend across every sector, reshaping the way companies are built and grow.

The convergence of AI as a trend that runs through everything is the main topic in a mature European tech ecosystem that looks to the future with optimism. These were the main takeaways from South Summit, the Madrid event that marks its 15th anniversary with this edition.

This year’s South Summit brought together more than 20,000 attendees, 7,500 startups and 2,100 investors managing €580 billion in funds. BBVA Spark played a prominent role at the event, with its own space, an exclusive brunch and the participation of its senior leaders across several panels.

It was a gathering where investors, founders and experts debated the strong position Europe is enjoying, despite challenges such as market fragmentation and overregulation. These hurdles increase complexity for companies seeking to grow across the continent. Whereas the focus once fell on revenue, profitability is now the key lever investors look for. Running through it all is AI, the defining technological disruption of our time, which cuts across every sector and shapes how founders conceive their companies.

“I see a very bright future in Europe: all the building blocks are already there, and the domino effect is already happening.” That is how Santiago Muguruza, Global Head of BBVA Spark, summed up the moment the continent is living through, while highlighting the strong position of the Spanish ecosystem, which has recorded its third-best year ever for investment received and reached a value of €125 billion, according to Dealroom.

Even at this point of maturity for Spain and Europe, challenges remain when it comes to cementing growth and, above all, competing with other markets such as the US or China. “Europe has a massive opportunity ahead in the coming years. It is already leading some of the most successful sectors such as space, energy, and lifestyle,” argued Miguel Ángel Alcalá, Head of BBVA Europe, who pointed: “We should diversify the sources of capital in Europe.”

Alcalá shared this assessment on a panel with Enrico Letta, former Prime Minister of Italy and Dean of IE’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs, and Lucien Burm, President of the Dutch Startup Association, who lamented that only 10% of unicorns stay in his country while the rest move elsewhere, particularly to the US. Letta pointed to a “mindset problem” that sets Europeans apart from Americans: “Mindset is what has made the US successful in AI. They made many mistakes, but after all they got the money and succeeded.”

One of the challenges companies face when looking to grow in Europe is market complexity. “Fragmentation is one of the first structural areas we have to fix in Europe,” said Miguel Ángel Alcalá. “What they find out when they enter a new market is that there are different labour markets, different tax systems and different regulations,” he explained, before concluding: “At the end of the day, when a founder wants to scale, they need to waste a lot of resources on managing complexity.”

The ecosystem’s maturity is also evident in shifting priorities among both companies and investors. That is how Lejla Hozdic, Global Head of Risk at BBVA Spark, put it: “Few years ago, everything was about growth, the next meeting and the next round, but now the conversation has changed to the big P, Profitability.” It is a shift in priorities that is also reflected in how companies evolve, because “growing not necessarily equals success, it equals complexity.”

Knowing how to handle that complexity and adapt to market cycles is key for a company to attract investment. “the first months require a balance between promise and evidence,” explained Santiago Muguruza, who added: “On early stages there is so much about the promise, but we need to see evidence, and see that they are headed in the right direction.” This has to be translated into specific capabilities as the company grows. “For the late stage it is much more about the evidence: it is very important for us to assess how fast you are able to evolve in terms of costs and in terms of strategy, and that brings a lot of credibility,” Muguruza explained during his panel on the state of the European ecosystem.

To move forward in an increasingly complex environment, companies need the right people in place to understand the moment they are in and make the right decisions. “It is very important to have an experienced CFO. The capital stack for each company should be different depending on the needs and the stage of the company,” Muguruza adds.

Lejla Hozdic agrees, arguing that “Companies need to analyze what are the capital needs they have: sometimes the instrument could be equity and sometimes it could be debt.” It is a view shared by Jan de Dreu, Head of Venture & Growth Lending Europe at BBVA Spark, who participated in a panel on equity, debt and venture capital alongside two other investors.

De Dreu explains that debt has become a standard product attracting more and more tech companies. “Equity is needed at the beginning of the company’s life; once there is some traction, venture debt can be a very useful instrument to scale the business without dilution while setting up the structure to grow.” Furthermore, he points to the flexibility of debt, which “can offer tickets from one or two million up to 20 million and above,” as a way to adapt to companies’ needs.

The impact of AI across every sector dominated the conversation on many panels, such as the one shared by Ainhoa Campo Nieto, Head of Investments at BBVA Spark, with Yaroslav Verinchuk, co-founder of Snul Comms; Lauri Antalainen, President of the Estonian Business Angels Network; and Elena Contioso-Fleming, Regional Director South at 28 Digital. The advance of AI is also evident in the weight it is already gaining in Spain: AI’s added value now accounts for 12% of the total value of the Spanish tech ecosystem, up from 7% five years ago, according to Dealroom.

“There is convergence across industries thanks to AI. We used to talk about sectors separately, but now we have a common trend shared throughout the entire economy,” explains Campo Nieto, who highlights the opportunity for Europe to embed it in sectors where it has expertise, such as energy or mobility. Antalainen agrees, arguing that, just as the COVID pandemic showed there was no need to travel to hold meetings, AI is now widening opportunities and “startups don’t need as many resources to have access to dealflow.”

For Campo Nieto, AI’s next big opportunity lies in physical AI: “The new wave of AI is not only digital but physical, beyond software to robotics, and automatization of systems.” For her, the conversation is no longer so much about the models as about how they affect talent, industries and capital, all within an ecosystem that sees opportunity in its own maturity. “We are in the path of building some solid and international companies and we are seeing more strategic investments.”

South Summit closed its 15th edition in 2026 with the sense that Europe has solid foundations to grow from a mature ecosystem that understands its potential and knows how to navigate complexity.