Avendar helps the police catch criminals with data

Eight ambitious AI startups have been selected to compete in the AI Pitch Competition. The finals are on November 13, 2025, and IO+ will portray each contestant in the run-up to that event. The AI Pitch Competition is a Brabant-based contest that highlights the most innovative AI solutions, offering startups the opportunity to present their ideas, connect with industry leaders, and accelerate their growth. Today, we show what Avendar has in store for the world. Founders Hugo Sleegers, Marijn van Aerle, and Tijs Bronnenberg answer our questions.

What specific AI technology is at the core of your solution?

"We use a combination of large language and machine learning models that can run completely locally. This ensures that no information is leaked to the outside world and makes it independent and sovereign; it can’t be turned off by American big-tech companies. This is critical for high-risk use cases in the public safety domain.

Our differentiation lies in a software platform that facilitates every aspect of high-risk decision-making by bundling state-of-the-art ingestion, multiple AI models, an intuitive user interface, and compliance controls into a single platform. This approach ensures that decisions are explainable, fully traceable, and that a human is always in the loop."

How scalable is your AI solution?

"There are huge opportunities; public safety is important all over the world. Governments are just getting started with applying AI to these use cases, since regulations are now in place and slowly being embedded in their organisations. Many processes in government and law enforcement are still manual, which presents a significant opportunity. 1.7% of EU GDP is spent on public safety & justice; a 10-15% increase in efficiency could yield €30-45B in redeployable capacity.

There are also challenges:

• Long sales cycles: Selling to the government is typically slow, and tender regulations make this event slower. We plan to start with smaller deployments to gain trust, and we already have the police as our first customer.
• Gaining trust as a company will take some time, and our reputation is also connected to AI’s reputation, so it is important to emphasize compliance and human in the loop
• Language barriers: Selling to governments often has to take place in the native language of the country."

How does your startup address potential ethical concerns related to bias, fairness, or transparency in AI decision-making?

"We always ensure that a human has to make the final decision and has to review the underlying assumptions that the model has. This is why our user interface is so important; just having a model is not enough. Our solution specifically addresses the long list of features you need to deploy an AI solution in these use cases, such as audit trails, model transparency, model monitoring, and bias monitoring.

An example in our police use case is that we prioritize tips using our model, so a detective can pick up the most important ones first. However, our solution also verifies that all tips have been processed at the end, since detectives require this. So it addresses both concerns. The order in which the tips are processed is very important and can make a big difference in solving a case, since the first 72 hours are the most important. If a detective only has to process 5 tips to get to the ‘golden tip’ instead of 500 tips, this can make a big difference in solving the case.

We have a lot of experience with compliance from our time in building a fintech governed by the Dutch Central Bank."

In what ways do you believe your AI solution can positively impact society?

"Our software helps the police catch criminals and solve cases. It also helps government officials hand out money that can be used for criminal purposes, or prevents them from opening businesses that launder money or cause environmental crimes.

There is a risk of taking things too far, as seen with certain predictive policing applications and the famous ‘toeslagenaffaire’. We see ourselves as part of the solution, since our platform provides robust tools to monitor bias and ensure human involvement. We also help the Netherlands and other European countries remain sovereign in these kinds of applications instead of depending on large foreign incumbents or big tech firms."

Tell us more about your entrepreneurial journey

"Our biggest challenge is gaining trust that we can deliver our solution in these critical environments, and getting access to the data that is required. Our main approach here is to have the right stakeholders within the organisation and to have a lot of ‘grit’, meaning patience and persistence.

The current AI landscape has helped us a lot; there is strong positive momentum towards applying AI, even within government organisations, driven by the obvious rise of ChatGPT. Furthermore, regulations are now getting in place, so that our solution can actually be governed in the proper way."

How are you preparing for the growing regulatory frameworks around AI, such as the GDPR, the AI Act, and other data privacy laws?

"Again, we see ourselves as riding this wave instead of fighting against it. These regulatory frameworks create a lot of work for organisations, and we can help them with a solution that checks all the boxes and is therefore easier to implement than other alternatives. It also helps remove the general, unsubstantiated worries about applying AI; we’ve had many vague discussions about what is and isn't allowed. Regulations, the case law, and guidelines that are going to be created in the near future will help a lot in creating the clarity that is needed to move forward."

Future vision: What is your long-term vision for your AI solution?

"Europe must leverage its strong position in education, creativity, and innovation to remain a strong competitor globally. We aim to be a leading supplier of AI technology in critical processes, fortifying EU GovTech, Security, and law enforcement. We want to provide advanced AI and software solutions in this space that boost efficiency and competitiveness while also upholding human rights and fundamental liberties."

What opportunities does your location give you? What is still missing in the ecosystem you are part of?

"We are part of a beautiful ecosystem in Brabant. We are located in JADS in 's-Hertogenbosch, and there are many players in the ecosystem that have helped us already in this journey. The only thing that can help the current ecosystem is more scale. More inhabitants and more businesses mean more sales opportunities and more talent. We want to think global, but building a global company in a relatively small town in Brabant can be a challenge. We’re definitely going to try, though."

The AI Pitch Competition: Why will you win this contest?

"Because we are fighting criminals with data, and help make the government more efficient at this, which helps every citizen. We also have the track record, clear demos, tech, and the police as our launching customer."