UK Leads Europe in AI Startup Numbers

The United Kingdom has established the largest number of generative artificial intelligence startups in Europe, accounting for 30% of the firms studied. This is reported by Reuters, citing data from Accel.

The venture capital firm analyzed 221 startups across Europe and Israel. Following the UK are:

• Germany — 14%;
• Israel — 13%;
• France — 11%;
• The Netherlands — 6%.

However, in terms of investment volume, French startups lead with $2.29 billion. The UK is in second place with $1.15 billion, followed by Israel and Germany with $1.04 billion and $636 million, respectively. 

Last week, Paris-based AI startup Mistral AI raised €600 million ($640 million). It is working on open-source large language models and positions itself as a European competitor to America’s OpenAI. 

In 2023, generative AI startups worldwide attracted $25 billion, according to Accel. The figure is expected to reach $45 billion in 2024. 

Amid the growth of AI in Europe, Amazon is investing €10 billion ($10.7 billion) in cloud infrastructure and the logistics chain in Germany, as announced by the company’s CEO, Andrew Jassy.

Appreciated meeting with @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz today to discuss Amazon’s efforts to drive innovation and jobs across Germany.

Excited to share we’ll be committing another €10 billion to expand our AWS cloud infrastructure, logistics network, and Development Center in… pic.twitter.com/Fe6t9a7LJy

— Andy Jassy (@ajassy) June 19, 2024

By 2026, €8.8 billion will be spent on expanding Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud infrastructure, as the company recognizes the growing potential of AI technologies in Europe. 

Back in June 2023, the AWS division established a $100 million fund to finance its own generative AI projects.