By Lily Blake and Mish Dent
The United States and China may be the largest investors in artificial intelligence (AI), but Europe is hot on their heels.
Last month, Germany released its AI Action Plan, pledging €1.8 billion to boost AI development, and last week, French billionaire and CEO of Iliad, Xavier Niel, announced he would invest €200 million into AI, including a €100 million AI research center in Paris.
International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that the European AI market will reach $191 billion in 2026, and large European firms such as Airbus, Bosch and Siemens are already innovating with the technology.
The continent, too, is brimming with startup founders looking for new, ingenious ways to leverage AI to upend traditional business models. In Estonia alone, the country counts 10 AI startups per 1 million people.
From healthcare, to finance, to autonomous vehicles and beyond, here are 25 of the best AI startups helping to prove that Europe is an AI force to be reckoned with in 2023.
Beams
Beams is a Berlin-based AI insights platform for highly regulated industries.
In industries like aviation and healthcare, companies are drowning in mountains of long and complicated reports. So, the most efficient way to speed up the process and gain insights quickly from these is to use AI.
The platform can not only file and analyze reports but also create them. Beams can create surveys in over 60 languages and uses real-time analytics to provide instant AI summaries.
Alan Sternberg, founder and CEO of Beams, spoke to Sifted about the correct use of generative AI, saying, “Poor prompts get poor results, so companies need to take care not to make users feel confused and give them parameters to submit concise, effective prompts.”
Audio Stack
This London/Barcelona-based AI audio production company uses generative AI infrastructure to power a new generation of audio creation for advertising, video voiceover, podcasting, and dynamic audio.
Furthermore, Audio Stack’s generative AI software can create audio in a matter of minutes and then tailor it efficiently, varying CTAs, dealer tags, sound beds, voices, accents, and languages for different audiences and markets.
And, saving more time, the intuitive software can be integrated into existing products or workflows seamlessly.
Quickblox
Companies with large teams and sales operations often run into issues with out-of-the-box messaging apps or video calling software, and wish they could just build their own. Quickblox can help with that.
This cloud-based platform enables businesses to create their own real-time communication apps through pre-configured infrastructure and front-end app projects.
Quickblox, based in the United Kingdom, provides a streamlined solution for businesses looking to deliver a professional user experience comparable to leading communication apps like WhatsApp and Zoom. The platforms allow users control over the type of communication, including chat, voice, or video calling; users also have control over push notifications, data storage, and secure file sharing.
Furthermore, Quickblox offers a vast range of cross-platform compatibility, supporting iOS, Android, Flutter, Web/Desktop, and others, enabling businesses to unify their user base and connect with ease.
Zoundream
For those people with babies who have long dreamed of being able to understand what your newborn wants/needs when he or she cries out, you may be in luck.
Swiss startup Zoundream, founded in 2018 by Roberto Lannone, uses AI and sound recognition to analyse an infant’s cries for parents and pediatricians.
The company claims that their pioneering, deep learning, sound-based solution is more accurate than any other competing technology.
The company was part of the UNICEF Lab accelerator program developed by UNICEF Spain and ISDI Accelerator in Madrid, and was also part of the Swiss Innovation Challenge.
In addition to decoding a baby’s cries in real-time, the company is also working to leverage its technology to help families and pediatricians better identify and diagnose pathologies and developmental disorders in newborns.
Transmetrics
Based in Sofia, Bulgaria, this AI platform was designed with the supply chain exclusively in mind.
Transmetrics optimizes logistics planning and asset management by leveraging the power of predictive analytics and machine learning (ML).
Its unique approach automatically extracts data and uses AI tools to accurately analyze, model, and predict transport flows.
These data-driven insights save time and resources, solving challenges around capacity, volatility, and margins by leveraging predictive planning, enabling smarter business decisions.
Transmetrics’ technology can be applied to various sectors, including fleet maintenance, linehaul planning, and empty container management.
TechWolf
TechWolf, a Belgium AI-based HR technology solution, puts organizations on the fast track to becoming skill-orientated.
Skills-Based Organizations (SBOs) need reliable information about their workers’ evolving competencies. However, manually collecting skill data is a struggle or just an outright wish for most HR departments, meaning that any results tend to be fragmented and quickly outdated.
With TechWolf, companies obtain an automatic and up-to-date overview of their employee’s skills in under eight weeks.
Their AI technology uses APIs, meaning it can be integrated into any organization, and any company data is safe, as TechWolf is GDPR compliant and ISO 27001 certified.
Andreas De Neve founded TechWolf alongside Jeroen Van Hautte and Mikaël Wornoo in 2018 while studying computer science engineering.
Outsight
Outsight is a Parisian company that leverages LiDAR technology to provide companies from various industries with actionable insights on improving efficiency and making work environments safer.
LiDAR stands for light detection and ranging and uses ultraviolet, visible, or near-infrared light to provide 3D images.
Outsight works by processing 3D RAW data, then using their Edge AI LiDAR agnostic function and processing software to analyze the data and provide ready-to-use spatial intelligence solutions for a multitude of industries. Plus, this is all done through an API and easy-function dashboard.
For example, Outsight can leverage its LiDAR software to track individual people and their velocity without requiring face ID or image processing. This technology is currently used in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport to provide accurate real-time monitoring of people flow while preserving data privacy.
Quantee
Insurance is necessary for life, and businesses like Quantee help insurers deliver precise policies with accurate prices.
Established in Warsaw, Poland, Quantee’s end-to-end platform uses AI to analyze insurers’ raw data like flat files, cloud storage, and databases.
Next, it filters and cleans this information and then analyzes risk, demand, and discount models to produce new tariffs at optimized prices.
With maintenance, performance, and scalability taken care of, insurers can gain a competitive advantage by leveraging powerful built-in pricing machine learning (ML) algorithms and open-source plugins.
Hal2B (Hal2Books)
Founded in 2022 by Daniel Font de Matas Olivella, Hal2B (aka Hal2Books) is a Barcelona-based SaaS platform that combines Natural Language Processing (NLP) and AI to offer solutions to publishers to find new talent.
By allowing monitoring of the leading self-publishing platforms, Hal2Books creates a space where publishers can search at ease among the many self-published authors.
Hal2Books was accelerated at ISDI Start, a program focused on channeling the entrepreneurial interest of students at ISDI, Spain’s first digital-first business school.
Colossyan
This London-based generative AI platform is revolutionizing the future of learning with AI videos.
Colossyan allows users to quickly transform documents and text into videos without paying for studio costs, camera rental, and actors. Plus, with auto-translate, videos can be translated into dozens of languages, enabling global use.
In a world where video is currently king (thanks TikTok), to increase engagement, businesses need to shake up dull presentations and alter them into more engaging formats; this also optimizes the learner experience.
Colossyan’s platform has a plethora of templates for users to choose from to get started and even allows customers to create custom AI avatars for their videos.
Veo
In the high-lying world of sports teams are consistently looking for technology that can give them an edge, whether it be the latest gear, or sophisticated video software that can help them learn and train.
Traditionally, the most advanced video recording and editing tools have only been made available to teams in the top leagues in Europe. But Henrik Teisbæk, founder of Copenhagen-based Veo, wants to bring this technology to smaller, local teams as well.
Veo is an AI-powered, automatic recording and video-editing tool that enables coaches and players to watch and share the sports they play and love.
With various different applications, Veo can help coaches, players, talent scouts, fans and more to get access to quality videos to improve their experience and help them better perform.
According to the company, the videos give automised panoramic, ball detector and player detector views. The platform contains analytical and sharing features enabling all users to access and utilise the content.
They already work with various international sports clubs including Lionel Messi’s new home, Inter Miami and the English Premier League’s Burnley FC.
U-Care Medical
This AI digital platform is an innovative startup spin-off of Politecnico di Torino, a leading university in Torino, Italy.
U-Care Medical helps medical professionals prevent, manage, and treat clinical complications in real-time.
Its flagship product is an AI-powered Renal Management Platform that can be integrated into hospital IT systems and creates personalized treatment for kidney failure patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).
U-Care Medical’s growing team comprises experts and specialists in biomedical sciences and statistics who have developed medical-grade AI Algorithms with FHIR-integration standards.
Swarm Analytics
With traffic increasing and parking in towns and cities becoming more elusive, councils and municipalities need smart and effective measures to help combat this issue. And here enters Swarm Analytics, an Austrian firm that’s turning cameras into GDPR-compliant smart sensors.
The software, available as ready-to-use edge hardware and as virtual software packages, are AI models that use camera data to provide real-time insights and traffic flow analysis. With this, cities can use the wealth of data to optimize traffic flow and reduce congestion.
Furthermore, Swarm Analytics can provide detailed risk assessments to identify potential safety hazards and improve overall road safety.
Tucuvi
This Spanish health-tech platform is designed to revolutionize organizational efficiency and automate outpatient care.
Tucuvi’s conversational AI chatbot, named Lola, allows healthcare professionals to scale the capacity of their care by automating medical phone monitoring. Medical practitioners simply choose the clinical process for a patient, then Lola will call them and conduct a natural conversation, and then Lola will provide a structured and thorough status report for the patient.
This streamlined process can reduce potential relapses through early interventions and improve care team efficiency. Furthermore, the platform is a CE-marked certified medical device and is GDPR compliant, ISO 27001, and ENS certified.
PolyPerception
AI data insights can improve all industries—including waste management and recycling. With the world desperate for sustainable choices and a move toward a circular economy, PolyPerception is precisely what businesses need.
PolyPerception, from Antwerp, has designed innovative AI models to classify waste in industrial environments through a clear, user-friendly dashboard. Its solutions use real-time data to allow facilities to boost their efficiency, stay compliant, and aim for a sustainable closed-loop system.
Nicolas Braem, co-founder and CEO, commented that “bringing change to the way we deal with waste can take years, but by using AI, we have the potential to help decision-makers and operators to reach new levels of transparency, efficiency and automation that hasn’t been previously possible.”
Endel
Are you interested in leveraging AI to aid in your health and wellness? Well, this Berlin-based sound wellness company could be right up your street.
Founded in 2018, Endel is a cross-platform AI-powered app ecosystem that creates unique, personalized, and functional soundscapes to help people focus, relax, and sleep.
In order to create personalized sounds, Endel’s patented AI technology uses information from the user’s movement, time of day, weather, heart rate, and location.
Then, these unique sound environments aim to reduce a user’s stress, improve their sleep, and boost productivity.
And even better, Endel is available on iOS, Android, Mac, Amazon Alexa, wearables, Apple TV, and as album releases on streaming platforms.
Barkibu
Barkibu is a pet health insurance and preventive coverage provider that’s headquartered in Spain, but also operates in Germany.
In addition to many useful functions for pet owners — such as a subscription for consultations with veterinarians and insurance to cover costs — Barkibu has also deployed an AI-powered framework that can make diagnoses and eventually improve a pet’s health.
In May, the company announced that it had raised a €4.5 million investment round, led by Kfund, which invests in startups from Southern Europe and Latin America, among others.
Barkibu’s Head Veterinarian, Ernesto Hernandez, was even invited to speak about AI in healthcare at the World Health Organization.
Teton.ai
Teton is a Danish AI company in the healthcare sector. It provides deep learning and computer vision tools for healthcare staff to help them have the clearest understanding of the ward and their patients.
Teton uses smart cameras with sensors that are stationed in healthcare facilities. These communicate with the Teton software, which can be easily integrated into existing healthcare platforms.
Teton’s sensors can understand activity within a patient’s room, and these data insights are then supplied to staff through the integrated platform available on their devices.
The Teton software can track various activities, from patients’ sleep patterns to their risk of falling, provide an overall analytic view of a ward, and can even automate regular ward documentation. This innovative technology allows overworked and underpaid staff to be unburdened by monotonous paperwork and supports healthcare staff to provide elite care for their patients.
Aimentia
A Barcelona-based healthtech company, Aimentia creates AI solutions to help mental health professionals better serve their patients.
Aiming to redefine mental health standards, Aimenta uses data-driven tools in order to aid diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making, providing diagnostic suggestions, metrics, objectiveness and data-based solutions to care providers.
Aimentia provides three solutions: Aimentia Virtual Deck, a fusion of telehealth and smart tools t facilitate a digital patient environment; Artificial Intelligence to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient happiness; and Data Hub, a multidisciplinary data repository “available to professionals and validated researchers for pharmacological adherence controls and custom reports.”
The company is led by founder and CEO Edgar Jorba and was part of the UNICEF Lab accelerator program in Spain.
Erudit
Founded in 2020 by Spanish entrepreneurs Alejandro M. Agenjo and Ricardo Michel Reyes, Erudit is a people-first AI for human resources (HR) which utilizes AI to enhance employee experience.
Built by psychologists and data scientists, their mission is to promote a people-first work culture that is driven by data and transparency.
Erudit aims to provide AI built for people leaders to enable them to track, measure and manage culture impact driven by real-time employee experience and data.
By using psychology-backed AI, Erudit can provide insights on the future of HR and foster a happier workforce.
The company is also based in the United States and, in September, announced they had raised a $10 million funding round led by Conexo Ventures.
Correcto
Founded in 2021 by Madrid-based entrepreneurs Abraham López, Ignacio Prieto, and Antonio Triguero, Correcto is a writing tool that uses AI and Machine Learning (ML) to offer users writing suggestions and analysis to improve written communication in Spanish.
As the first Spanish grammatical platform powered by AI and ML, they aim to improve text quickly and easily by providing real-time recommendations and corrections as you write.
Correcto is now the most advanced AI writing tool for the Spanish Language.
CourtCorrect
Founded in 2019 by Ludwig Bull, London-based CourtCorrect is on a mission to bring consumer claims and complaints in the future by using AI to transform how businesses and their customers resolve disputes.
Focusing on enterprise organisations and SMEs, CourtCorrect introduces a lightweight, intelligent case management system powered by AI.
They aim to help claims teams be more productive in order to keep customers happy and achieve CourtCorrect’s vision of effective and fair consumer dispute resolution that works for everyone.
The company has raised over $2 million in seed funding.
DeepL
Founded near Cologne, Germany in 2017 by Jaroslaw Kutylowski, DeepL is a real-time AI translation tool with a vision to create a world without language barriers.
By utilising AI to replicate human intelligence, it offers users the technology to enable real-time, human-sounding translation.
They also provide a DeepL API, allowing companies to integrate DeepL technology directly into their own products and platforms, making it a fast and straightforward way to help people overcome communication barriers.
Didimo
Founded in 2016 by Veronica Costa Orvalho, Didimo generates realistic, real-time digital human avatars.
The Porto-based platform allows companies, software developers, and app builders to create characters that can be integrated into apps, games, or websites.
Didimo’s mission is to allow technology to feel more human, and they believe that enabling users to create bespoke, lifelike, 3D characters that look, act, and speak like a human will help people to engage more personally in the digital world by creating digital interactions as authentic as physical ones.
Sensorita
Founded in 2020 by Ulrikke Lien and Emil Skar, Sensorita provides analytics to help waste companies cut costs and emissions.
Using AI and sensor measurements, Sensorita can provide increased insights into waste trends and details of waste containers.
This enables more efficient waste management through better planning, logistics, and waste collection.
Sensorita was created with the aim of streamlining the waste management industry in order to help the industry become more sustainable.
This article includes a client of Espacio portfolio company.
