American internet start-ups such as Airbnb, Uber and Fab.com are accelerating their efforts to expand internationally, powered by global distribution platforms such as Facebook and Apple’s App Store, in an attempt to see off copycats in Europe and elsewhere.
The size and scale of the US historically meant large tech companies could be built without looking outside their domestic market. Now, entrepreneurs running companies barely a year old are going global – having learnt lessons from the likes of Groupon, which paid about $100m in 2010 to acquire MyCityDeal, a year-old “clone” created by the Samwer brothers of Germany, who went on to run its international business.
Airbnb, the peer-to-peer home rental site, saw the Samwers’ launch rival Wimdu in Europe last year. But the US site wasted little time in establishing European operations, partly through acquisitions in the UK and Germany.