Nevomo & Magrail Revolution. Why European Deep Tech Flees Abroad

Recently, I listened to a podcast by Maciej Kawecki from a YouTube channel, “This Is IT”. The guest of the latest episode was Przemysław Pączek, a CEO and founder of Nevomo, a Polish company proposing a Magrail-based transportation system. During the episode, he put forward numerous painful but real theses that have changed the way I look at world innovations. To be honest, this article is only my humble opinion. So, it will be mostly about entrepreneurship, ventures, business, Poland, and Europe.

Flying on tracks?

Nevomo team taps into existing rail infrastructure to move the Magrail transportation system. The concept is genuinely brilliant in its simplicity. Below the train carriages is a passive magnetic board. On the ground, there would be a third rail. In this way, the carriages move. The technology for freight trains allows them to speed up to around 160 kilometres per hour.

The technology developed by Nevomo allows trains to speed up to around 160 kilometres per hour.

They have developed technology for passenger trains that can reach up to 550 kilometres per hour, but according to their calculations, it will be available in two decades. Currently, Nevomo is implementing its technology in Haldia, one of the largest ports in India.

Nevomo Team Speeds Up

Nevomo (known as Hyper Poland) was founded in 2017 by Przemysław Pączek (CEO), Kasia Foljanty (CMO), Paweł Radziszewski (CTO), and Łukasz Mielczarek (Infrastructure Manager), but it was originally developed as a student project. They participated in Hyperloop Pod Competition II – a contest organized by SpaceX. Then they presented a prototype in 2019, and three years later they built a full-size trial track in Nowa Sarzyna, Poland, to test their Magrail solutions in practice. In July 2026, Nevomo was selected as a finalist in the European Inventor Award, presented by the European Patent Office. The fast development of their venture was possible due to the support of the Polish National Centre for Research and Development (PLN 16.5M grant), European Innovation Council (€2.5M funding), EIT InnoEnergy, and funds from Hutter Private Equity from Gdynia, Poland.

Przemysław Ben Pączek, a co-founder of Nevomo – MyComapnyPolska

Moreover, they completed two rounds of equity crowdfunding campaigns on Seedrs with PLN 3.7M. Currently, the Nevomo team employs 53 specialists (engineers, scientists, and business specialists). In the near future, Przemysław is going to leave his CEO position. He will be replaced by Harj Dhaliwal, the current Chief Business and Capital Programmes, with over 40 years’ experience in transportation and advanced mobility, and a former director at Virgin Hyperloop.

Europe. The lost player.

“Europe has become a museum”. In the first few seconds, we got a scary diagnosis. Przemek gives a perfect example – the AI Act. No European company sets trends in the artificial intelligence field, but here the politicians have legally regulated this area. It makes it impossible for young start-ups to grow. The innovation process is being delayed. Compared to the rest of the world, this area is dominated by large American companies like OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic. Hopefully, the politicians wake up and perform the biggest economic operation, “Made in Europe”. For instance, in April 2026, France presented a plan for exchanging Windows for Linux on every government computer. The revolution may be really painful, but it’s worth it, am I right?

The Complex of a “Weaker” neighbourhood?

In Poland, we were always compared to Germany. In the past, their products were perceived as the highest quality. But today, “Germany seems to be the sickest country in Europe”, as Przemek said. While in Poland we can prove our identity using mobile apps, German people are stuck in a paradigm of bureaucracy and tons of paper. The moment of awakening was February 2022, with the Russian-Ukrainian war, when Germany was completely cut off from cheap energy.

Russian-Ukrainian war showed that source independence would be the relevant challenge for the EU.

As the CEO of Nevomo said, they are afraid of making serious decisions. Przemek’s team negotiated the agreement in Germany for over two years, but in India it lasted far less, even 6-12 months. The next aspect is the financial system, which in Europe is based on banks. It is safer than the American one that relies on a stock market. In Europe, the world of finance strongly believes in real estate or American companies that are stable and growing.

The Overhyped

As Polish people, we have an inferiority complex (that probably came from the communist era). We have an internal obligation to prove that Polish inventions are on par with foreign ones. We perceive some ventures as “Polish”, although mostly they are not. InPost, a Polish pride, was founded by Rafał Brzoska, but actually it’s not controlled by him. Related to Rafał Brzoska, the fund A&R Investments Ltd. controls approximately 16% of the shares, and he is not a majority shareholder. Next one, ElevenLabs, a golden child of Silicon Valley, founded by two Polish men – Piotr Dąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski, developed their venture outside Polish borders (now they have offices in many countries–the U.S., the UK, Germany, Poland, Australia, Japan, France, Canada, Singapore, UAE).

ElevenLabs, a start-up that started in 2022, now has an over $11B valuation. Founded in London. Read more.

Admittedly, single Polish business angels (Karwatka, Pucek, and others) invested in them at an early stage (pre-seed in 2022/2023), but a Polish institution (a fund Vinci) did so three years later, when the company was perceived as mature. There is one clear conclusion: generally, the state is not ready for risk, because we don’t trust our ventures, despite having unique talents.

No money or no mentality?

The most relevant part for me was the part about the characteristics of the Polish market. It’s really hard. Most companies are owned by the state, and they are managed by clerks who are not ready to make serious decisions. It might come from pressure on scores. As a clerk and chief of a state-owned company, you don’t have to invest in long-term innovation (like Nevomo), because your career lasts until another political party wins the next election. So, your long-term investment would be assigned to your opponent. I assume that all serious innovations in companies like PKP PLK (PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe, an owner of most railways in Poland) or PKP (Polskie Koleje Państwowe, an owner of trains in Poland) are based on ideas and concepts that have existed in drawers for more than 20-30 years. Most innovation funded by EU organs must meet conditions of “sustainability”, “green transformation”, and “digitalization”. It’s just marketing and PR, not real changes.

Express Intercity Premium – the most luxurious and fastest Polish passenger trains.

What’s more, they strongly believe in incremental innovations rather than radical ones. Implementing visual changes in trains, like new chargers or new mobile apps are relatively cheaper and more visible than infrastructural transformations. “If Rafał [Brzoska], Mati [Staniszewski], Piotr [Dąbkowski] had started their ventures, they would not have achieved the successes they have today” – Przemek has claimed. It’s a painful diagnosis, but real. We educate founders well, but we don’t give them any opportunities to scale their business here. It’s genuinely used by big foreign funds, usually from the U.S.

Turning point?

The situation has fairly changed in recent years. The state started investing in Polish start-ups, but it’s only a small percentage. Not long ago, in government-related companies’ portfolio appeared ventures with Polish intellectual capital appeared in government-related companies ‘ portfolios, like ICEYE and ElevenLabs. We hope it will grow in the coming years, and the main headquarters of those companies will be here, in Poland. When it comes to Przemek and his Nevomo, I wish them a successful trial, and more and more patience to the conservative transportation sector.