Good morning {{first_name}},
Last week, Europe witnessed one of the most extraordinary venture financings in its history - to say the very least. In other words: as a seed-round, this was merely insane!
AMI Labs, the AI startup founded by Yann LeCun after leaving Meta, raised nearly $1B to develop so-called world models: AI systems designed to understand and simulate the physical world rather than simply predict text.
The size of the round alone is striking, but the signal is bigger than the number.
For years, Europe’s role in the global AI race has often been framed as secondary: Strong in research, but dependent on American platforms and Chinese scale. The emergence of ambitious AI labs like AMI suggests a different trajectory may now be forming: one where Europe builds foundational AI capabilities of its own.
And the geography of that shift is increasingly clear: Paris has become Europe’s most concentrated hub of frontier AI talent. In this issue, we take a closer look at 5 early-stage AI startups emerging from the Paris ecosystem that are helping build the next layer of Europe’s AI stack.
Also in this issue:
Germany’s VC reset: Five signals reshaping the country’s venture ecosystem.
DTM26 opportunities: Two Summits designed to accelerate real AI adoption inside enterprises.
In “The Leap”, DTM-founder Martin Schilling also takes a look at Europe’s AI and sees one major issue: Only about one in five European enterprises uses AI technologies in their operations. But the next phase of the AI race will not be decided in research labs — but inside factories, offices, and supply chains. Whoever deploys AI fastest across the real economy will define the productivity frontier of the next decade. And this is where Europe has a real chance to win.
Enjoy the read!
PS: We are getting ready for DTM26 — are you? In just a few weeks, Deep Tech Momentum returns to Berlin (20–21 May) and Europe’s deep tech builders will get their chance to meet partners who can deploy and scale their technologies. Spots are getting rare and the early-bird-discount runs out soon, so be quick to secure your tickets now!
THE LEAP | BY MARTIN SCHILLING
Europe’s Enterprise AI Productivity Moment
Dear all,
On a September afternoon in 1953, the cavernous hall of the Great Hall of the People was filled with the murmur of delegates gathered for the National People's Congress. Only four years earlier, the People's Republic of China had been founded after decades of war.
This was the moment when Mao Zedong unveiled China’s first national economic blueprint: the First Five-Year Plan — a strategy to build heavy industries as the backbone of China. Steel mills, coal mines, machine factories, and power plants would rise across the country.
Last week, China approved the framework for its next Five-Year Plan with a striking pillar: “AI+.” The strategy aims to embed artificial intelligence across roughly 90% of economic activity by 2030, integrating AI into manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, energy systems, agriculture, and public services.
Europe cannot afford to fall behind in AI adoption. Across Venture Capital (VC), corporate investment, and enterprise spending, well over $50B flows into AI in Europe each year. Yet adoption still lags — only about one in five European enterprises uses AI technologies in their operations, according to Eurostat.
This is the gap we must close. To accelerate adoption, we will host a special invite-only summit at Deep Tech Momentum 2026: The AI for Productivity Summit — partnering with Merantix Momentum and the EU AI Champions Initiative of General Catalyst.
We curate the summit, bringing Europe’s most promising Enterprise AI innovators together with leading industrial buyers across 8 high-impact categories:
1. Coding / Developer Productivity
AI-accelerated coding remains the largest magnet for venture capital, with ~$6.5–7B raised by the top companies in this category. AI copilots help developers write, debug, and refactor code automatically — dramatically increasing software engineering throughput and shortening development cycles.
European innovators include Poolside (France), Lovable (Sweden), StackBlitz (UK), and CodeSandbox (Netherlands).
2. Industrial AI (Factory Automation & Predictive Maintenance)
Industrial AI has attracted roughly ~$5B among leading companies. These systems combine robot intelligence, predictive maintenance, and machine-learning models that optimize production lines and industrial assets. The goal is autonomous factories where machines continuously monitor, learn, and optimize operations.
European innovators include KONUX (Germany), Wandelbots (Germany), Micropsi Industries (Germany), and Covariant’s European operations.
3. Supply Chain Optimization
Supply-chain AI platforms have attracted roughly ~$3.0–3.3B among leading companies. These tools forecast demand, optimize inventory levels, and coordinate complex logistics networks using machine learning.
4. Sales Productivity
Sales AI platforms have drawn roughly ~$2.5B in investment. These systems automate CRM updates, analyze customer interactions, and recommend next actions to improve deal conversion and forecasting.
5. Customer Support AI
Customer-support AI platforms have attracted roughly ~$2.5B among leading companies. AI agents can handle voice and chat interactions at scale, resolving routine inquiries while escalating complex cases to human agents.
Europe is particularly strong here with Parloa (Germany), NiCE Cognigy (Germany), PolyAI (UK), and Ultimate.ai (acquired by Zendesk) (Finland).
6. Enterprise Knowledge Assistants
Enterprise knowledge assistants — internal AI search engines for company knowledge — have attracted roughly ~$1.6–1.8B in funding. These systems connect documents, databases, and communication tools so employees can retrieve answers instantly.
European innovators include Sana (Sweden), Dust (France), Weaviate (Netherlands), and Tana (Norway).
7. AI Legal & Workflow Automation
AI-native legal and workflow automation platforms have attracted roughly ~$1.2–1.5B among leading companies. These systems automate contract review, legal research, and document-heavy workflows — dramatically reducing the time professionals spend on repetitive administrative tasks.
European innovators include Luminance (UK), Robin AI (UK), Legora (Sweden), Noxtua (Germany) and Definely (UK).
8. Energy Optimization / Digital Twins
Energy optimization and digital-twin platforms have attracted roughly ~$1B among leading companies. These systems simulate factories, buildings, or energy grids to optimize efficiency and test improvements before deploying them physically.
European innovators include Gradyent (Netherlands), Akselos (Switzerland), etalytics (Germany), and Carbon Re (UK).
If you are building one of Europe’s leading Enterprise AI solutions in these areas — or are an enterprise leader exploring their deployment — we would love to hear from you.
We are currently curating roundtables for the invite-only AI for Productivity Summit at Deep Tech Momentum 2026 in Berlin (20–21 May 2026). Seats are strictly limited to 100 participants.
Our ambition: launch 100 new AI collaborations in one afternoon — and move European enterprise productivity to a whole new level.
With wishes for an ultra-productive week,
Martin
DEEP TECH OPEN | PARIS AI
Paris’ Top-5 Startups Building The Next Layer of European AI infrastructure | Seed ($8m-1b)
Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI Labs)
Technology: World models — a new class of AI systems designed to understand and simulate the physical world rather than simply predict text.
Customers: Early research partnerships across robotics, autonomous systems, and industrial AI labs.
Funding: Nearly insane seed round with ~$1B (March 2026) at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation – Europe’s largest seed round on record - co-led by Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital, HV Capital, and Bezos Expeditions.
Why it matters: If world models succeed, they could redefine the architecture of AI systems—moving beyond LLMs toward models that can reason about the physical world, which is critical for robotics, mobility, and defense.
→ Founded in late 2025 by Yann LeCun following his departure from Meta, where he spent more than a decade leading the Facebook AI Research (FAIR) group
Technology: Infrastructure for building adaptive AI agents that continuously improve using real-world operational data.
Customers: Engineering teams and enterprises deploying internal copilots and automation systems.
Funding: Raised its €20M seed round in September 2024, lead by Index Ventures, and by ICONIQ Capital, backed by Motier Ventures, Databricks Ventures, IRIS, HuggingFund by Factorial.
Why it matters: Deploying AI inside companies is still painfully complex. Adaptive ML focuses on the deployment layer of AI systems, an area where Europe currently lacks major infrastructure players.
→ The founders previously built internal AI systems used across thousands of engineers at large tech companies.
Technology: Autonomous enterprise agents capable of executing complex operational workflows across software systems.
Customers: Enterprise operations teams, IT departments, and large customer service organizations.
Funding: Raised ~€22M seed in July 2025, co-led by Earlybird, Protagonist and Visionaries Tomorrow, with participation from Generative IQ and C4 Ventures, among others.
Why it matters: The next AI platform shift is moving from models to agents.
Companies that control the orchestration layer for agents could become the operating system for enterprise AI.
→ The company’s name references the French scientist François Arago, who helped pioneer early work in electromagnetism.
Technology: AI platform that analyzes large-scale operational and sensor data to optimize complex industrial systems.
Customers: Manufacturing operators, infrastructure companies, and energy networks. As reported by Sifted, Orasio also intends to sell its product to local authorities, private companies managing sensitive sites and military forces.
Funding: Raised ~€16M seed in May 2025, led by French VC Frst, Germany’s Global Founders Capital and Polish investor Expeditions Fund with a valuation speculated at no less than €80M.
Why it matters: Europe’s competitive advantage is not consumer tech—it’s industrial systems. Plus the value of AI in defense is rising high.
Technology: Open-source infrastructure for building and orchestrating LLM applications.
Customers: Developers and AI teams building production AI systems.
Funding: Closed a ~€8M seed in August 2024, led by EQT Ventures; further participants include Seedcamp, Common Magic, Kima, FSJ.
Why it matters: Europe cannot rely entirely on US AI developer stacks. Dottxt focuses on the developer tooling layer—a critical part of building a sovereign AI ecosystem.
→ The team are strong advocates of open-source AI development, releasing many of their tools publicly before raising funding.
THE PULSE
Germany’s Tech Ecosystem: Stabilizing and Reshaping
Source: XAnge (2025), State of the German Tech Ecosystem
Germany’s venture market is no longer in correction mode. But the ecosystem emerging from the downturn looks very different from the one that existed during the 2021 boom.
The State of the German Tech Ecosystem 2025 report by XAnge, a leading European early-stage VC firm managing over €700M in assets, investing in deep tech, enterprise software, and digital infrastructure across Europe, gives a pretty precise insight into the new German Startup-landscape.
Here’s 5 key take-aways:
1. Venture funding has stabilized — but the market became far more selective
Germany’s venture market has settled into a post-bubble “new normal.” Total venture funding remained relatively stable between 2023 and 2025 (~$8.1–8.3B annually), but the number of funded companies declined significantly. The implication is clear: capital is still available, but fewer startups are able to access it.
2. Power-law structure: VC is concentrating into fewer, larger bets
Capital allocation is becoming increasingly concentrated. In 2025, just 19 mega-rounds larger than $100M captured ~47% of all venture funding in Germany. A small group of companies now absorbs nearly half of the market’s capital.
3. AI is becoming the core layer of the next startup wave
AI now accounts for ~16% of all venture investment in Germany, making it one of the largest funding categories. The most significant investments increasingly focus on:
AI infrastructure
agentic systems
enterprise automation
Rather than consumer applications, the ecosystem is building the operational backbone of AI adoption.
4. DeepTech is attracting the largest strategic rounds
Germany’s largest funding rounds increasingly cluster around DeepTech and strategic infrastructure. Examples from 2025 include:
Helsing — €600M Series D (AI defense systems)
Quantum Systems — €160M Series C (autonomous drones)
Proxima Fusion — €130M Series A (fusion energy)
NEURA Robotics — €120M Series B (industrial robotics)
These companies combine hardware, software, and industrial engineering — areas where Europe has longstanding strengths.
5. Liquidity is returning — but IPO markets remain effectively closed
Exit activity is gradually recovering. Germany recorded 164 exits in 2025, surpassing the previous year. However, the structure of exits has shifted dramatically: IPOs have virtually disappeared, the vast majority of exits occur through strategic M&A. Examples include:
Hornetsecurity → Proofpoint (~$1.8B)
Cognigy → NiCE (~$955M)
IDnow → Corsair (~$295M)
DTM OPPORTUNITIES
Don’t Miss Out: The AI Productivity Summit & Venture Clienting & Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) Summit & Pitch Storm
How to really use AI - like: REALLY.
AI pilots are everywhere inside large companies. Real productivity gains are still rare.
The gap between experimentation and operational impact is exactly what the AI Productivity Summit is designed to close.
Hosted as part of and during DTM26, the summit brings together enterprise leaders and Europe’s most promising AI startups for a highly focused day of collaboration.
Expect:
Live demos from leading European AI startups
Practical playbooks from companies already deploying AI
Direct collaboration opportunities between corporates and founders
→ If you’re looking for AI solutions with near-term P&L impact, this is where many of them will be discovered. Spots are limited and curated.
How can startups and corporates really collaborate - like: REALLY.
Most startup–corporate collaborations fail long before they create real value. Not because of technology — but because the path from first meeting to real deployment is too slow.
The Venture Clienting & CVC Summit as part of DTM26 is designed to change that. This peer forum brings together Europe’s top 100 venture clienting and CVC leaders for a focused exchange on how to turn startup partnerships into measurable business outcomes.
Unlike traditional conferences, this Summit is meant as an exchange between operators running these programs inside leading companies.
→ Participation in the Venture Clienting & CVC Summit is invite-only and curated for senior leaders operating venture clienting programs and corporate venture arms.
Event Details:
DTM26
When: 20–21 May, 2026
Where: Wilhelm Studios, Berlin
→ Secure your ticket now before the early-bird pricing ends.
Pitch Storm: A New Opportunity for Deep Tech Startups from Central and Eastern Europe
Nuqleus and Deep Tech Momentum are launching Pitch Storm, an online pitch competition for pre-seed and seed deep tech startups in Central & Eastern Europe.
When: 8 April 2026 | 17:00 – 19:30 CET
Format: Online
Top-10 startups will pitch to Croatian and German investors and compete for prizes including:
🏆 Golden Ticket and Startup Pod for DTM Berlin
🎟️ Startup Tickets for Liftoff Zagreb
These prizes open doors to investors, partnerships, and Europe’s leading deep tech networks.
How to apply? Submit your application via the application form. The deadline to apply is March 29, 2026 on Sunday. If you're building breakthrough technology, this is your chance to pitch on a bigger stage.
ECOSYSTEM GIFT
The Hard Part: Scaling What You Started
Something special for the builders in this community.
We’re giving away 2 tickets to DTM26 in Berlin — the gathering where Europe’s most ambitious deep tech founders, investors, operators, and policymakers come together to shape what comes next.
If you’re building or backing technologies that matter — AI infrastructure, defence tech, climate systems, robotics, space, advanced manufacturing — this is where the real conversations happen.
What you’ll get:
• Full access to DTM26, 20-21 May in Berlin
• Direct exposure to founders, top-tier investors, and ecosystem leaders
• Insight into the technologies, capital flows, and geopolitical shifts shaping Europe’s deep tech future
➔ If you'd like to join DTM26 and the only thing keeping you is the price of tickets, here’s your chance. Just reply “DTM26” very quickly - the first two replies win!
Thank you for reading this far. Here are two ways to grow closer to the Deep Tech Now community:
Become a Guardian of European Deep Tech: Are you a senior leader seeking commercial partnerships with Europe’s leading Deep Tech startups and SMEs? Successful applicants join Deep Tech Momentum’s Guardian network, receiving complimentary VIP access to our flagship event in May. Apply here.
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— Isabelle and Martin
Co-Founders, DTM
