The potential of generative AI knows no limits. And what we have seen now may be the tip of the iceberg.
For years, corporations all over the world have been working to extend their AI capabilities – be it within the USA, China or France.
The potential of generative AI to extend productivity, stimulate creativity and overhaul workflows is now spreading across countless industries. Regardless of the business case, corporations that work with generative AI tools or develop them themselves have moved to the forefront of the discussion.
At our first Brainstorm AI conference on the Rosewood Hotel in London, where we’ll explore a few of these complex but pressing issues, Assets has taken a deep dive into the present state of generative AI all over the world, with exclusive insights based on data from Amsterdam-based intelligence firm Dealroom.
Our evaluation covers the world’s top 100 generative AI corporations by funding. It’s no surprise that US-based corporations (particularly the San Francisco Bay Area) dominated other regions by light years. The Sam Altman-led OpenAI is by far the highest-funded AI company, while its Californian neighbors Anthropic and Inflection AI follow close behind. In Europe, corporations like Mistral AI and Aleph Alpha have gained importance with their innovations.
Yet corporations in France, Britain and Germany received only a fraction of the funding – not because there wasn’t enough of it, but because they’d not yet reached the mammoth size of their American competitors. Israel, which we included in our evaluation, also has a vibrant generative AI scene.
In numerical terms, which means that Dealroom’s data on the 100 corporations excludes those who have raised lower than $70 million in total. This is where most young European corporations fall. Since the dealroom data on this case primarily considers funding numbers, some notable players within the generative AI space, resembling Google, are usually not a part of the next evaluation.
But Europe must pat itself on the back for a few of its progress. For example, three of the 15 corporations on our list have female founders. Seven corporations were originally founded in Europe but have since moved to the United States, where they received roughly $1.7 billion in funding.
Given the technology’s various use cases, it may be difficult to define what counts as a generative AI company. By definition, generative AI uses algorithms to create recent and realistic content – including text, images and audio – based on training data. Dealrooms Data, As of April 2024, examines corporations that use or create large language models trained on massive data sets to provide recent content.
The charts below give us an insight into how Europe compares to a number of the world’s leading AI players. They also show us where in Europe the best progress in generative AI is being made and who the makers are.
Total funding of the world’s top 100 generative AI startups by region
It is evident that the US received the lion’s share of funding. American corporations are leading the best way with greater than ten times the quantity raised at $36.8 billion, in comparison with European and Israeli corporations which have raised just $3.2 billion to date. According to data compiled by Dealroom, OpenAI is the clear leader with capital raised of $12.3 billion.
The key European markets are home to the most important genetic AI players by funding
In our evaluation, Israel has the lead over Europe as a location for generative AI corporations, based on the quantity of funding the corporate has received. Within continental Europe, Germany and France are at the highest.
The majority of funding for European corporations comes from European investors, in response to dealroom data. About 43% of funding for European and Israeli corporations comes from their home countries, about 13% comes from one other country inside Europe and 39% comes from the USA
Most funded corporations in Europe and Israel
Here’s a have a look at essentially the most funded corporations in Europe and Israel – Aleph Alpha, the German answer to OpenAI founded by Jonas Andrulis, tops the category. In Nov 2023Bosch, SAP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise supported a $500 million Series B funding round, marking certainly one of Europe’s largest AI funding rounds ever.
The French Mistral AI, led by Arthur Mensch, is available in second place. Microsoft announced in February that it could invest $16.3 million within the French company.
Below is the total list of generative AI corporations headquartered in Europe and Israel, sorted by funding, per Dealroom Data.
Aleph Alpha
Year of introduction: 2019
Headquarters City/Country: Heidelberg, Germany
Total Funding (USD): $641.14 million
Mistral AI
Year of introduction: 2023
Headquarters City/Country: Paris, France
Total funding: $553 million
AI21
Year of introduction: 2017
Headquarters City/Country: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Total funding: $326.5 million
Lightricks
Year of introduction: 2013
Headquarters City/Country: Jerusalem, Israel
Total funding: 305 million dollars
Cera
Year of introduction: 2016
City/Country of Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Total funding: $302.5 million
synthesis
Year of introduction: 2017
Headquarters City/Country: London, United Kingdom
Total funding: $155.58 million
Stability AI
Year of introduction: 2019
Headquarters City/Country: London, United Kingdom
Total funding: 151 million dollars
AI on the pool
Year of introduction: 2023
Headquarters City/Country: Paris, France
Total funding: $126.01 million
Pecan
Year of introduction: 2016
Headquarters City/Country: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Total funding: 112 million dollars
DeepL
Year of introduction: 2009
Headquarters City/Country: Cologne, Germany
Total funding: 110 million dollars
MDClone
Year of introduction: 2015
Headquarters City/Country: Beersheba, Israel
Total funding: $104.01 million
Corti
Year of introduction: 2016
Headquarters City/Country: Copenhagen, Denmark
Total funding: $90.9 million
The bed
Year of introduction: 2014
Headquarters City/Country: Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain
Total funding: $85.8 million
Sana Labs
Year of introduction: 2016
Headquarters City/Country: Stockholm, Sweden
Total funding: $82.57 million
Ready, player
Year of introduction: 2014
Headquarters City/Country: Tallinn, Estonia
Total funding: $72.55 million
This feature was created with assistance from Fortune Europe Editor-in-Chief Alex Wood Morton, List Director Grethe Schepers, Research Analyst Elena Medina and Production Editor Aslesha Mehta.
