Europe's AI Catchup Summit, Q&A with Peter Sarlin (Silo AI) on OpenEuroLLM, and much more

Author

Robin Wauters
February 15, 2025

Welcome to the bi-weekly “Inside European Deep Tech” newsletter, compiled by Robin Wauters, founder and managing director of Profoundo, fresh board member of the European Startup Network, and formerly founding editor and CEO of Tech.eu.

Hope I'm not repeating myself every two weeks, but I can’t believe more than 50,800 people have already subscribed on LinkedIn to this little hobby project of mine! 😮

A big thank you also to those who've already reached out for information on sponsorship of this newsletter - much appreciated but too early for that.

That said, I'm always up for a chat about how to upscale the communications strategies of European deep tech startups, scale-ups and investors, so do hit me up if you want to have a chat about that.

Let’s get to it for issue #3; there's a lot to cover.

AI Action Summit: the key take-aways

Paris and particularly the Élysée, STATION F and The American Cathedral were absolutely buzzing this week, with word leaders and heavy hitters in the AI space in town for the AI Catchup sorry Action Summit, Visionaries Club Unplugged and other events.

Yours truly didn't make it in the end (sick kid, don't ask) but watched the announcements roll in from not-so-afar, and kept an eye on The French Tech Journal and Politico in particular.

Here's a rundown, sprinkled with some fleeting thoughts:

  • More than 60 countries signed the 'Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet'. Hold-outs include the US and UK but good to have Djibouti on board.

  • French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans for €109 billion of private AI investment. French state bank Bpifrance also said it will invest €10 billion by 2029 "to strengthen France’s AI ecosystem. I would expect the UK to make a splash announcement like this one soon, because they can't (appear to) get left behind. Obviously.

  • Meanwhile, the EU plans to invest €50 billion to support the development and application of AI. This InvestAI initiative will supplement a €150 billion investment pledge from the private sector as part of the EU AI Champions Initiative - including a new European fund of €20 billion for 'AI gigafactories'. We'll have to wait and see if this gets diluted as it so often does, or if instead the commitment will grow in the next few years.

  • Currently, the supporters of the EU AI Champions Initiative - which has General Catalyst in the driver's seat - represent over 70+ organisations and some $3+ trillion in public market cap. Check out their report 'An Ambitious Agenda for European AI' as well > PDF.

  • It has detractors, too, such as (predictably tbh) Michael Jackson.

  • For a bit of context, European AI startups raised $8 billion in 2024 (and it's driving UK tech forward). Here's what the aforementioned General Catalyst has been investing in btw.

  • U.S. Vice President JD Vance called on European countries to embrace "the new frontier of AI with optimism and not trepidation" and adopt a lighter touch on tech regulation.

  • And lo and behold, the EU decided to cut back tech regulation to spur investments in artificial intelligence, but seemingly not because of pressure from US Big Tech companies and the Trump administration. I believe that, this dial-down has been in the making for a while.

  • Meanwhile, Eric Schmidt warned the west to focus on open-source AI in competition with China.

  • A Public Interest AI platform and incubator to decrease fragmentation between existing public and private initiatives and address digital divides with the goal of supporting and co-creating “a trustworthy AI ecosystem advancing the public interest of all for all and by all” was separately announced by France, India, Germany, Finland, Slovenia, Kenya, Chile, Nigeria and Morocco.

  • A new initiative called ROOST was launched and aims to secure AI with open source safety tools.

  • Plenty more to digest, and plenty of analysis and opinion pieces flying around, but to me this feels like a milestone with a very, long road ahead - and a very uncertain outcome.

  • Ok just this one then: "The Paris AI Summit: A Diplomatic Failure or a Strategic Success?"

Also fresh from this month: the OpenEuroLLM project. 

"Europe's leading AI companies and research institutions combine their forces and expertise to develop next-generation open-source language models in an unprecedented collaboration to advance European AI capabilities."

To learn more beyond the PR, project website and headlines, I caught up over email with one of its co-leads, Peter Sarlin who also co-founded Silo AI, the largest private AI lab in Europe, and sold it to AMD last year.

You're co-leading what is referred to as Europe's largest open-source AI initiative. Why now? Why you? Why open source?

Peter: "The timing reflects Europe's need to move from fragmented efforts to coordinated action. Instead of several small initiatives, we need a few moonshots. Open source is crucial because it democratizes access to AI - whether you're a startup, enterprise, or researcher, you can build upon and adapt these models for your specific needs. As for why us, we've demonstrated our capability through previous open models like Poro and Viking, and have the technical knowhow needed to execute at this scale."

The EU has committed $56 million to develop the initiative, dubbed OpenEuroLLM, essentially an open-source language model designed to support all 30 European languages. That 'low number' was widely mocked when it was announced, which was admittedly pre-Commission commitment to mobilise €200 billion on AI. What did everyone get wrong about the funding of OpenEuroLLM?

Peter: "This comparison fundamentally misunderstands what the funding covers. The €200 billion EU announcement, like the US Stargate initiative, focuses on compute infrastructure investment. OpenEuroLLM's funding is specifically for research costs - primarily personnel."

I read somewhere that the move "represents a strategic move toward technological sovereignty" - what does that even mean?

Peter: "It's about building the fundamental infrastructure that enables European innovation in AI. OpenEuroLLM will provide foundation models that are natively trained in European languages and optimized for European use cases. This means companies across industries - from healthcare to banking - can more easily develop AI applications that serve their specific needs. The focus is on creating an ecosystem where European businesses can innovate and build competitive AI-powered products and services."

There are a ton of partners involved in this initiative. What's the plan to keep things manageable? 

Peter: "The key is clear focus and structure. Rather than trying to be all things to all partners, we're building a specific family of language models with clear technical objectives. Each partner brings distinct expertise - whether that's research excellence, computing infrastructure, or industry perspective. The consortium structure creates clear workstreams while enabling collaboration where it matters most."

In the consortium there are also supercomputing hosting entities such as the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and Cineca. What will be their role and commitment? 

Peter: "These partners are crucial for providing the massive compute capacity needed to train large language models. With previous models, we've already demonstrated success scaling on Europe's most powerful supercomputer LUMI, covering more than 12 000 GPUs. Having multiple major computing centers involved ensures we have the robust infrastructure needed for both training and serving these models. Their commitment also reflects the EU's broader investment in AI compute infrastructure."

There were a flurry of announcements in the wake of the AI Action Summit in Paris. What are your main take-aways from the busy week? 

Peter: "The summit reinforced that Europe is taking concrete action on AI development. Beyond discussions of governance and voluntary commitments, we're seeing real movement on infrastructure and coordination. The focus is shifting from theoretical frameworks to practical implementation - whether that's through initiatives like OpenEuroLLM or the broader ecosystem of AI factories and compute infrastructure.

It was also encouraging to see European Commission President von der Leyen emphasize open source AI in her keynote. From builders to policymakers, Europe is embracing open source as key to our AI future. This alignment between policy and practical implementation - as demonstrated through initiatives like OpenEuroLLM - shows we're moving beyond theoretical frameworks to concrete action.

The focus is on building the infrastructure and ecosystems that will enable European innovation in AI."

Must-reads

Data, research & insights

Interesting deals

  • Oxford-based Sophos has acquired US cybersecurity firm SecureWorks in a $859m deal.

  • Angular Ventures Fund III >> "$125M for technical founders tackling the toughest markets".

  • Goldman Sachs’s growth equity unit led a $125 million funding round for Irish AI software startup Tines, valuing the startup at $1.13 billion.

  • Asset management group Tikehau Capital has invested an additional €50 million in high-performance computing (HPC) and Al hosting services company Eclairion, bringing its investment to €160 million.

  • Junction Growth Investors closed its first fund at €115 million.

  • Nordic venture capital firm Fåhraeus Startup and Growth has completed the final close of its second fund, FSG Fund II, at €75 million.

  • AI foundation model builder Latent Labs emerged from stealth with $50 million in total funding to accelerate their progress in programmable biology.

  • Munich healthtech startup Avelios has raised €30 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia to advance its efforts in developing its hospital data operating system.

  • Germitec, a French MedTech company specialising in UV-C High-Level Disinfection solutions, has announced the closing of a $30 million financing round.

  • GK Software, a provider of commerce solutions for global retailers, has acquired Nomitri, a Berlin-based deep tech startup for computer vision.

  • Salience Labs Limited, which provides photonic solutions targeting connectivity for AI datacenter infrastructure, closed $30 million in Series A financing led by ICM HPQC Fund and Applied Ventures.

  • Barcelona-based VC firm Nina Capital has reached the first close of its third fund, of €50 million, to back early-stage healthtech founders.

  • Also over in Spain, Hector Ciria and David Santos are prepping a €150 million 'healthcare' fund.

  • London-based smart electricity startup IONATE landed a $17m funding round.

  • The latest study by the European Patent Office (EPO) maps specialised technology investors and introduces a novel metric to help startups identify them. A new filter in the Deep Tech Finder tool also makes it easier to search for these investors.

  • Martin Schilling: "Excited to host Bulent Altan—ex-SpaceX, Founding Partner at Alpine Space Ventures—for the second episode of Deep Pockets for Deep Tech! Join us on February 25th.

  • "🚀 Calling All Energy Innovators! Apply for DeepTech Alliance Energy 2025! ⚡🌍"

  • What makes Sweden’s technology ecosystem such an innovation powerhouse?

  • French AI startup Mistral is pursuing defence contracts with governments across Europe, pitching its technology’s potential military applications.

  • US VC Fifty Years is bringing its company builder to the UK with funding from innovation agency ARIA — and it wants hundreds of scientists through its doors.

  • Riam Kanso: "🔥Interviewing for Conception X cohort 8. So MANY scientists in UK and Europe building breakthrough deeptech startups. It’s going to be WILD 🛰️🧬🧪🤖 ☀️🚀"

  • The future of counterfeit drug detection: Lightly’s journey from EIT Jumpstarter to global expansion.

Upcoming events in Europe for your calendar

The scrolled-all-the-way-down extras

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