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Meet Europe’s biggest competitor to OpenAI — Startup Europe, The Sifted Podcast

Aleph Alpha has built a generative AI model that’s even bigger than its Silicon Valley-based rival — with a fraction of the funding

By Steph Bailey

👉 Listen to Startup Europe on Apple Podcasts
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👉 Other places to listen

This week on Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast, we chat about the biggest things coming out of Europe’s tech and startup sector.

We kick off with the news that the German government has announced a new €1bn fund for deeptech and climate tech growth-stage companies. With this, we discuss the announcement of a new science, innovation and technology department within the UK government, which seems to be “good news for startups” according to one policy expert.

Next, we talk about a growth-stage deeptech raise that happened this week. Exotrail, a French company, raised $58m in Series B funding to continue making propulsion systems for satellites. Then we move to Greece to talk about an Athens-based startup that raised €5m to scale its tech platform for farmers.

Before our interviews, we discuss findings from a new report that looked at the experiences of LGBTQ+ founders — namely that the vast majority of LGBTQ+ founders don’t feel comfortable sharing their identity with investors. 

Then we’re joined by Jonas Andrulis, founder and CEO of Aleph Alpha, Europe’s answer to OpenAI, that’s built a generative AI model that’s even bigger than its Silicon Valley-based rival — with a fraction of the funding. 

Lastly, we are joined by our reporter Kai Nicol Schwartz, who this week has been lifting the lid on one of Europe’s most taboo tech sectors — sextech.