Aleph Alpha raises follow-on investment of more than half a billion US Dollars

• The investment is led by the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (Ipai), Bosch Ventures and the companies of the Schwarz Group. 
• UVC Partners has backed Aleph Alpha already since 2021, co-leading their Series A, and now contributes substantially to this round. 
• The deal strengthens Aleph Alpha’s position as a leading provider of sovereign Generative AI applications in Europe, focusing on B2B and B2G solutions with explainable and trustworthy AI. 
• The funding will be invested in category-defining research on foundation models, advanced product capabilities, especially for business-critical environments plus commercialization with selected key partners.

Munich, November 6th, 2023 - Aleph Alpha, a leader in the field of explainable AI in Germany, today announced the successful signing of its Series B financing round. The company raised more than 500 million US Dollars from a consortium of new investors and existing investors. The investment is led by the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (Ipai), Bosch Ventures, and the companies of the Schwarz Group with participation of SAP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Christ&Company Consulting, and Burda Principal Investments.

UVC Partner, a supporter and investor of Aleph Alpha for over two years, is substantially participating in this round. Our investment underlines the great trust and deep conviction in accompanying the team around Jonas Andrulis further on their impactful journey as a trailblazer for sovereign AI in Europe. Ipai’s investment and strategic partnership with Aleph Alpha comes just one year after Ipai and UnternehmerTUM, in close affiliation with UVC Partners, had announced a close collaboration in the form of their joint venture appliedAI.

Today’s investment in Aleph Alpha includes a significant package for applied research with Ipai and commitments to shared business development and co-innovation with some of the leading companies in international key industries. This commitment strengthens the foundation for Aleph Alpha to further advance its proprietary AI research, and accelerate the development and commercialization of Generative AI for the most complex and critical applications, such as in data-sensitive industries like healthcare, finance, law, government, and security. Aleph Alpha will further expand key academic partnerships and contributions, and remains committed to reproducibility, excellence, and sharing innovation through open source.

“We are amazed by the incredible potential of the technology and opportunities in a new era of human-machine collaboration. Our commercial traction is motivating us to grow to meet our client's demands and remain one of the best teams in Generative AI. Our partners are industry leaders that offer huge potential for innovation and scale, and we are committed to build these partnerships towards a leading position in their respective industries. Our unique explainability and trust technology plays a crucial role in this”, Jonas Andrulis, CEO and founder of Aleph Alpha, commented on the successful Series B round.

Explainable and sovereign AI: Recognizing technological relevance early on to ensure competitiveness of Europe

The significant enhancement of the capabilities of Large Language Models of a European company gives government agencies as well as companies the opportunity to apply AI in a sovereign environment, as Aleph Alpha combines data protection and security with its explainable and trustworthy model.

Andreas Unseld, General Partner at UVC Partners said: “For us, Jonas Andrulis is one of the daring visionaries who, three years ago, spoke of what seemed like science fiction. Since then, the team has achieved tremendous progress, catapulting Aleph Alpha into the forefront of AI firms in Europe. With its proprietary technology and the robust consortium now in place, we are convinced that Aleph Alpha will be instrumental in the AI-driven transformation that's on the horizon for our society.”

Dr. Oliver Schoppe, Principal at UVC Partners added: “When we first heard about Aleph Alpha, we knew that this team was tackling a mission that was incredibly complex and bold. For us, as early-stage tech investors, it is always important to understand the technological capabilities of the team and what the company needs to succeed. After Jonas and Samuel had shown us what they were working on in 2021, we quickly gained a strong conviction that they indeed had what it takes to build Europe’s first globally competitive AI research company. The consortium presented today is a very strong setup to continue and accelerate this mission.” 

And what the future holds for Aleph Alpha was summed up by Jonas Andrulis today in Berlin like this: "With this latest investment, we will continue to enhance our capabilities and enable our partners to be at the forefront of this technological development. To empower customers, Aleph Alpha will continue to expand its offerings while maintaining independence and flexibility for customers in infrastructure, cloud compatibility, on-premise support, and hybrid setups. The ongoing developments will extend interfaces and customization options tailored to business-critical requirements. For customers with a significant responsibility and in strategic environments where sovereignty is at risk, we will remain the best option".

About Aleph Alpha

Aleph Alpha, the leading company in explainable and trustworthy generative AI applications, has raised capital and forged key strategic partnerships in a series B financing round to launch the next stage of its development in the global AI race. The consortium consisting of seven new investors is led by the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (Ipai), Bosch Ventures and Schwarz Group. Other new investors include Berlin-based Christ&Company Consulting, the global edge-to-cloud company Hewlett Packard Enterprise and German multinational enterprise application software company SAP, as well as investor Burda Principal Investments. Former investors complete the round. This strategic investment will further strengthen the German and European AI position for the development of sovereign AI.

Learn more at www.aleph-alpha.com

About UVC Partners: 

UVC Partners is a leading Munich- and Berlin-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in European B2B tech start-ups from pre-seed to series A. With about €400 million assets under management, UVC Partners typically invests between €500,000 and €10 million initially and up to €30 million per company. The portfolio includes category leaders in deep tech, climate tech, hard- and software, and mobility with various technologies and business models. As an independent partner of UnternehmerTUM, Europe's most extensive innovation and startup center, UVC Partners has access to proprietary deal flow, an industrial network of more than 1,000 corporates, and access to talent from the leading European technical university. The investments include Flix, Vimcar, planqc, Tanso, Isar Aerospace, TWAICE, DeepDrive, STABL, and many more. They all benefit from the team's extensive investment and exit experience, their ability to build sustainable category leaders with a competitive advantage, and their passion for growing the game changers of tomorrow. 

Learn more at www.uvcpartners.com