STOCKHOLM, June 20 – The United Kingdom has emerged as the primary hub for generative AI (GenAI) startups in Europe and Israel, surpassing Germany and Israel, according to a report by venture capital firm Accel.
Accel’s analysis of 221 GenAI startups revealed that 30% of these companies originated in the UK, with Germany and Israel following at 14% and 13% respectively. France accounted for 11% of the startups, while the Netherlands contributed 6%.
GenAI refers to artificial intelligence capable of generating text, images, videos, or other data, utilizing models trained on extensive datasets.
The UK’s prominence in GenAI startups can be attributed to its leading universities, a history of successful ventures like Deepmind established in 2010, and substantial investments from major U.S. tech firms.
Despite the UK’s lead in the number of GenAI startups, French companies lead in fundraising, securing $2.29 billion, followed by the UK with $1.15 billion, Accel noted.
Mistral, headquartered in Paris and often seen as a European competitor to OpenAI, recently raised 600 million euros ($644 million), valuing the company at 5.8 billion euros.
Accel projected a significant rise in funding for GenAI startups globally, with investments surpassing $25 billion in 2023 and expected to reach approximately $45 billion this year.
Accel partner Harry Nelis highlighted that a quarter of these startups have founders with backgrounds at tech giants like Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, DeepMind, Meta, or Microsoft, while over a third have ties to academic institutions.
Furthermore, Accel reported that a significant proportion of GenAI startup founders were educated at prestigious UK universities such as the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London, and Oxford University.
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