Sifted - The French Correction

Good morning there,

Au revoir Paris, it's been fun. 

Between breaking news on Mistral's questionable data practices and secret push for defence contracts, Sifted's pop-up Paris bureau has been firing on all cylinders. 

We rounded off the AI Action Summit with some clear-eyed analysis, asked UK startups what they thought of the government snubbing a declaration on "inclusive" AI (spoiler alert: pretty good) — and reported how the EU might just be starting to bend to calls for de-regulation. 

What a week. And it's only Thursday.

Elsewhere today:

• The biggest AI agent raises in Europe
• Northvolt extends runway but says it needs more capital to survive
• Former DeepMind research scientist raises $40m for new biotech startup

   

– Martin Coulter, news editor

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🔋 Swedish gigafactory startup Northvolt — which said it had enough capital to last until the end of January after filing for bankruptcy in November last year — says it’s extended its runway by making further cuts to the business, but is still in search of “short and long-term financing.”

👀 Mistral AI quietly amended its AI chatbot’s privacy policy following a complaint to the French data protection watchdog. The objection alleged those using the free version of Le Chat could not opt out of their data being used to train Mistral's models.

🇪🇺 The European Union has scrapped the AI Liability Directive — intended to empower consumers to claim compensation for harm caused by artificial intelligence — after calls from lawmakers and entrepreneurs to pare back regulation. 

🧬 Former DeepMind research scientist Simon Kohl — who worked on the company’s groundbreaking AlphaFold program — has raised a $40m Series A for his new biotech startup Latent Labs. 

🇩🇪 Alumni of Munich’s top business programme CDTM have pooled together €8.2m for a fund to back 60 startups with at least one alum from the programme on the founding team. 

• LPs include the founders of mobility startup Tier, HR tech Personio and online shopping service Outfitter.

Free to apply: Sifted’s UK & Ireland Leaderboard

We’re in search of startups in the UK & Ireland showcasing exceptional growth to feature on our Leaderboard. You’ll unlock unparalleled exposure and credibility for your startup. 

🇬🇧 UK tech leaders cheer Paris AI declaration snub: ‘We need clarity, not virtue signalling.’

🤑 The European AI agent startups which have raised the biggest rounds.

The French Correction

Tech leaders and lawmakers sang from the same hymn sheet at this week’s AI Action Summit in Paris, leaving doubters and doomsters out in the cold. 

French president Emmanuel Macron, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Mistral cofounder Arthur Mensch were among the true believers to take to the stage at Parisian startup hub Station F on Tuesday, espousing France’s potential as an AI powerhouse. 

A sequel to the UK’s AI Safety Summit in 2023, many attendees told Sifted the French event marked a major course correction. Last time around, politicians pleaded with the tech elite to pry open their AI models — now they’re begging them to open their wallets. 

Altman teased a potential expansion of OpenAI’s Paris office, telling French AI minister Clara Chappaz on stage: "We already have many talented French researchers, and we would like to welcome many more.” 

Mere hours after word broke of billionaire Elon Musk’s bid to acquire OpenAI for just shy of $100bn, Chappaz asked if the company was up for sale. Altman answered definitively: “No.” 

"OpenAI has a mission: to bring AGI [artificial general intelligence] to all of humanity. We are a unique organisation, and that's what we are here for.” Asked to actually define AGI, he demurred: “It means different things to different people, sometimes multiple different things to the same person.” 

Mistral’s Mensch — who Sifted revealed earlier this week has been pursuing defence contracts with governments across Europe — was unabashed in outlining the company’s priorities, chatting with Axios's Ina Fried on stage: "We need Europeans, and we need the world, to actually adopt the technology faster.” 

Asked which historical figure he would name a chatbot after (Anthropic’s Claude was inspired by pioneering mathematician Claude Shannon; French chatbot Lucie by the 3m-year-old fossil skeleton of the same name), Mensch chose: Cleopatra. 

“That’s the Egyptian queen,” he added in case there was any doubt, telling the audience “we need more women” in AI. 

Things wrapped on Wednesday with a star-studded event put on by early-stage venture fund Visionaries Club at the American Cathedral in Paris. 

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Linkedin cofounder Reid Hoffman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei were among those holding court at the historically appropriate venue, built in the 1880s to give Americans in Europe somewhere to sing the praises of an almighty — and potentially destructive — power. 

Speaking with characteristically British understatement, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told the crowd: “AI will affect the whole world and humanity needs to be involved in the decision-making [...] it will be transformative and powerful like we’ve never seen before.”

— Martin, news editor, Daphné, senior reporter, Éanna, contributing editor

Dublin-based Tines, a workflow and AI orchestration platform for businesses, raised €120.7m in Series C funding. Goldman Sachs led the round and was joined by investors including SoftBank, Activant, Accel, Felicis, CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and Addition.

Bordeaux, France-based Germitec, which has designed a medical device to combat hospital-acquired infections, raised €29m in funding. Eurazeo led the round.

Berlin-based Lanch, a platform helping food brands scale, raised €26m in Series A funding. Felix Capital and HV Capital led the round.

Lisbon-based Scoreplay, an AI-powered platform for sports media management, raised €12.5m in Series A funding. 20VC led the round and was joined by investors including Seven Seven Six, Apex Capital, BYL Ventures, Trybe Ventures, Fiba, Lori6 Ventures, Nico Rosberg, Alex Morgan, Pat Cummins, Edouard Mendy, Aïssa Mandi and Ciryl Gane.

Luxembourg-based Marketleap, an AI-driven platform for D2C e-commerce, raised $8m in Series A funding. Smedvig Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Expon Capital and Motier Ventures.

Berlin-based Integral, which offers a digital-first, fully-managed solution to simplify accounting, payroll and taxation for SMEs, raised €6.3m in pre-seed funding. General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Puzzle Ventures.

Stockholm-based Agteria Biotech, which has developed a patent-pending molecule which reduces methane emissions from cattle, raised €6m in seed funding. Industrifonden and AgriZeronz led the round and were joined by investors including Norrsken Launcher and Mudcake.

Amsterdam-based Collie, which provides a digital livestock management solution using a specialised collar and an accompanying app, raised €3.5m in seed funding. Freigeist Capital led the round.

Berlin-based Spark e-Fuels, which focuses on sustainable aviation fuel production using e-fuel technology, raised €2.3m in pre-seed funding. Nucleus Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Zero Carbon Capital, IBB Ventures, Chemovator, Voyagers.io and 1.5° Ventures.

Manchester, UK-based Arcube, a passenger intelligence platform that unlocks untapped loyalty and ancillary revenue for airlines post-flight, raised $1.5m in seed funding. Fuel Ventures and Oxford Capital led the round and were joined by investors including Seb Johnson.

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