These 3 Dutch (based) AI companies raised many millions in 2024
In 2024, innovative AI companies operating in sectors ranging from healthcare to mobility pulled in many millions.
Published on December 27, 2024
Everything new is wildly interesting! That's the motto of our DATA+ expert, Elcke Vels. She writes stories about AI and how it affects our society, has a series on cyber security, and interviews Dutch innovation maestros. In her “What if...” column, she also explores intriguing scenarios that deviate from the status quo.
2024 was not a bad year at all for Dutch AI companies. Last year, innovative AI companies operating in various sectors, from healthcare to mobility, raised many millions. Here are three high-profile examples highlighted.
Self-driving transportation and cloud solutions: $700 million for Nebius
AI company Nebius secured the largest round with $700 million in December 2024. The company, founded and led by CEO Arkady Volozh, has its European headquarters in Amsterdam. Its areas of focus include technology for autonomous vehicles and delivery robots, online programming courses, and a cloud platform heavily focused on artificial intelligence.
For example, the IT company has gained prominence as an alternative to U.S.-based Google, thanks in part to its search engine, Yandex Search. Nebius additionally includes companies such as Avride. That company develops self-driving cars. Each vehicle is equipped with four proprietary lidars, six radars, and 8 to 12 cameras. They can recognize objects up to 500 meters away and adjust the scanning pattern while driving. In addition, the company has developed technologies for bad weather, such as filtering snowflake reflections in lidar images.
Healthcare: $73 million for Cradle
Another Dutch AI company, active in healthcare, also raked in tens of millions. Cradle, a platform for AI-based protein engineering, recently raised $73 million.
Cradle's AI platform enables scientists to accelerate the discovery and development of improved proteins by making the engineering of better proteins significantly more accessible, faster, and cost-effective. The key to its success lies in the AI platform's unique approach, which can dramatically reduce the number of experimental rounds required.
Cradle raises $73 million to accelerate adoption of AI-powered protein engineering
The investment will help Cradle accelerate its mission to empower millions of scientists to engineer more sustainable products and better therapeutics on smaller budgets and with higher success rates.
Climate: $30 million for CuspAI
Over the summer, Amsterdam-based CuspAI raised $30 million in seed capital. At the helm are Max Welling and British chemist Chad Edwards. The company uses generative AI, deep learning, and molecular simulation to streamline the materials design process. Their platform works like a search engine for materials. Users can enter specific properties and request new materials.
The team thinks AI-designed materials will be especially useful in combating climate change. Indeed, greenhouse gases can bind to the new materials so that they can be stored later.
CuspAI raises $30 million; tackles climate crisis with AI-designed materials
Amsterdam-based AI company CuspAI has raised $30 million in seed capital to use AI to research new materials in the fight against greenhouse gases.