The Startup Trust Index captures confidence in commercial partners and public institutions, while its findings point to a more practical constraint: many founders depend on organisations they do not fully trust because alternatives are scarce.
Trust and Power Point in Opposite Directions
The sharpest result is not simply that technology providers outscore public institutions. It is that founders identify government as highly influential while expressing relatively low confidence in it. Thirty-eight per cent said their government has high power over their growth, rising to 47% among UK respondents, yet only 27% said they strongly trust government. That mismatch reflects a structural feature of running a business: policymakers shape taxes, labour rules, funding conditions and market access, while founders may have limited ability to change those conditions.
AI providers and sales and distribution platforms were each strongly trusted by 37% of respondents, with investors at 35%. These businesses are closer to the daily work of finding customers, building products and managing operations. Their contribution can be immediate and observable. Government support may be less direct, more fragmented or slower to arrive, which can make it harder for founders to connect public policy with business outcomes.
The results measure reported perceptions, not provider performance or policy quality, and the pooled sample may conceal differences between countries and sectors. Still, founders see government as influential but not consistently supportive.
AI Confidence Is Based on Reported Business Gains
Sixty-nine per cent of respondents said they use AI in their business, including 19% who use it for business-critical decisions or processes. Among AI users, 56% reported higher productivity and 52% said revenue or profit margins improved. Across the full sample, 58% agreed that AI represents a greater opportunity than a threat. These figures show a positive view of current use, though self-reported survey results do not establish how much of the gains can be attributed to AI or how they vary by firm size.
The data suggests a transition from experimentation toward practical deployment. Productivity gains are easier to see in tasks such as drafting, coding, summarising or customer support. The consequences become more significant when AI influences payments, credit decisions, hiring or other consequential processes. Enfuce CEO Denise Johansson points to AI moving from helping founders work toward making decisions, including payments on their behalf. That shift raises questions about who authorises an action, how it can be challenged and who bears responsibility when an automated process goes wrong.
Trust in AI providers may therefore be conditional. Founders can value useful tools while still requiring control over sensitive data, permissions and decision pathways. The report says relationships matter more to growth than technology for 63% of respondents, a reminder that tools operate within networks of customers, suppliers and advisers. Technology can expand capacity, but trust and accountability shape whether a business is willing to rely on it.
Dependence Without Confidence Reveals Weak Choice
More than half of founders, 56%, said they depend on at least one type of organisation they have limited trust in. Among that group, 30% said they rely on the organisation because no suitable alternative exists. Others cited capabilities they cannot easily obtain elsewhere or benefits that outweigh concerns. The result is a picture of dependency driven by market structure rather than enthusiastic endorsement.
Sales and distribution platforms ranked highest for strong dependence, followed by investors and traditional retail banks. Such services can become gateways to customers, capital and payments. If a startup relies on a platform to reach its market, switching may involve lost data, disrupted revenue or expensive migration. The problem is not unique to technology firms: concentrated infrastructure can give a supplier considerable power even when a customer is uncertain about its terms or service quality.
Founders said value for money and keeping promises were the leading factors behind trust, followed by clarity about terms, charges and decisions. Those answers are practical rather than ideological. Providers earn confidence through predictability and transparency, particularly when a startup has little negotiating leverage. Regulators and market participants can improve trust by making terms easier to compare and switching less disruptive, although the survey does not prescribe a specific policy response.
Growth Ambitions Are Practical, but Europe’s Appeal Is Fragile
Operating costs were the most frequently cited recent barrier to growth, at 32%, ahead of economic or policy uncertainty at 29%. Forty-two per cent said lower operating costs would help them grow; in the UK, the share reached 50%. The findings make the cost environment a more concrete concern than broad rhetoric about innovation. Access to talent, infrastructure and predictable rules can matter more to a young business than a general promise of support.
Only 41% of founders were confident that Europe is a good place to build and scale a business, while 39% had considered relocating, incorporating or raising capital outside Europe. Consideration is not the same as an imminent move, but it signals a competitive problem. If companies believe their growth prospects are better elsewhere, Europe may lose future employment, investment and intellectual property even if founders remain connected to European markets.
Takeaway
Enfuce’s survey finds that European founders trust AI providers more than governments even as they see governments as powerful influences on growth. The deeper issue is dependence: 56% rely on at least one organisation they do not fully trust, often because alternatives are limited. AI is already associated with reported productivity and margin gains, but as it begins to make decisions, transparent terms, accountability and the ability to switch providers will become central to whether that confidence lasts.