The AI Rush
Because we know how to have fun ✌️, we were (litteraly) excited about spending days and nights on crunching data of European startups funded in 2016 to eventually get a real sense of what is AI and Data’s real trend in Europe. 2800+ Startups later, we eventually found out 271 AI & Data startups and here is our main conclusion: Yes, AI is a thing and it’s happening now.
Not convincing enough? Here are 4 facts that will make you change your views and you can discover the full report at the end.
1. Fundraising went crazy, and we always want more of it
Numbers stagger : $774 million — Yes 7–7 and 4, nearly 10% of the total 10+ billion invested in European startups in 2016, has been fully dedicated to AI & data. Bringing the total investment in AI & Data to 2 billion since 2014.
2. Early stage investments boomed
Even more striking is the number of AI start-ups financed : 271, three times 2015 figures. This trend has been led by early stage investments which played a signifiant role: $215 million have been invested in 171 early stage startups (0 to $5m in funding). Back to 2015, only 58 early stage startups were financed.
3. The real world is getting AI-ified (let’s say this is actually a word)
When in 2014 and 2015, investments made were in Marketing or AdTech, in 2016 the tech ecosystem started to look at… non tech sectors: Health (discovery of new medicines), Agriculture (improvement of crops), Environment (waste collection) and Retail. A total of $120 million have been invested in non tech related sectors.
4. No, AI is not replacing our jobs
With access to new data and thanks to interpretation capabilities, AI is much more than replacing humans with robots. Drilling down the startups, less than 5% of them are actually replacing our jobs (Automated visual inspection, automated answers, algorithmic investment strategy), the other ones are helping us in our decision making process.
>>>>> 👇 Discover the full report HERE 👇 <<<<<
Cheers,
Jean-Baptiste, Léa & Eric
***
Want more?
>> Check out our 2014–2015 study « Data Revolution » <<
>> Check out our 2016 study on European funding <<
***
About Serena
Founded in 2008 by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, Serena invests in bold ventures and provides them with an unrivaled level of expertise and operational support.
In just ten years, the firm has already contributed to the emergence of many success stories and has currently 40 handpicked startups in its portfolio such as Dataiku, Evaneos, Malt, iBanFirst, CybelAngel, or Lifen.
Find out more about us at serena.vc
