Data from Dealroom was used for the State of European Tech report. Dealroom defines deep tech as 16 fields: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Drones, Autonomous Driving, Blockchain, Nanotech, Robotics, Internet of Things, 3D Technology, Computer Vision, Connected Devices, Sensors Technology, and Recognition Technology (NLP, image, video, text, speech recognition).

In 2019, there was $10.2 billion capital invested in European deep tech. In 2020, that dropped to $8.9 billion:

I think it’s fair to say that 2020 has been a tough year for most people and businesses. Economic uncertainty – not just from COVID-19 but also trade wars, Brexit, and a rather tumultuous US presidential election – has naturally led to fewer investments and people tightening their wallets.

For just one example, innovative satellite firm OneWeb was forced to declare bankruptcy earlier this year after crucial funding it was close to securing was pulled during the peak of the pandemic. Fortunately, OneWeb was saved following an acquisition by the UK government and Bharti Global—but not all companies have been so fortunate.

Many European businesses will now be watching the close-to-collapse Brexit talks with hope that a deal can yet be salvaged to limit the shock to supply lines, prevent disruption to Europe’s leading financial hub, and help to build a friendly relationship going forward with a continued exchange of ideas and talent rather than years of bitterness and resentment.

The report shows the UK has retained its significant lead in European tech investment and startups this year:

Despite the uncertainties, the UK looks unlikely to lose its position as the hub of European technology anytime soon.

Investments in European tech as a whole should bounce back – along with the rest of the world – in 2021, with promising COVID-19 vaccines rolling out and hopefully some calm in geopolitics.

94 percent of survey respondents for the report stated they have either increased or maintained their appetite to invest in the European venture asset class. Furthermore, a record number of US institutions have participated in more than one investment round in Europe this year—up 36% since 2016.

You can find a full copy of the State of European Tech report here.

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British chip designer ARM’s technology is at the heart of most mobile devices. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s GPUs are increasingly being used for AI computation in servers, desktops, and even things like self-driving vehicles.

However, Nvidia was most interested in ARM’s presence in edge devices—which it estimates to be in the region of 180 billion.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, said:

“ARM is an incredible company and it employs some of the greatest engineering minds in the world. But we believe we can make ARM even more incredible and take it to even higher levels.

We want to propel it — and the UK — to global AI leadership.”

There were concerns Nvidia’s acquisition would lead to job losses, but the company has promised to keep the business in the UK. The company says it’s planning to hire more staff and retain ARM’s iconic brand.

Nvidia is going further in its commitment to the UK by opening a new AI centre in Cambridge, which is home to an increasing number of exciting startups in the field such as FiveAI, Prowler.io, Fetch.ai, and Darktrace.

“We will create an open centre of excellence in the area once home to giants like Isaac Newton and Alan Turing, for whom key NVIDIA technologies are named.

Here, leading scientists, engineers and researchers from the UK and around the world will come to develop their ideas, collaborate and conduct their ground-breaking work in areas like healthcare, life sciences, self-driving cars, and other fields.”

The new centre will have five key features when it opens:

• ARM/Nvidia-based supercomputer – set to be one of the most powerful AI supercomputers in the world.
• Research Fellowships and Partnerships – Nvidia will use the centre to establish new UK-based research partnerships, expanding on successful relationships already established with King’s College and Oxford.
• AI Training – Nvidia will make its AI curriculum available across the UK to help create job opportunities and prepare “the next generation of UK developers for AI leadership”
• Startup Accelerator – With so many of the world’s most exciting AI companies launching in the UK, the Nvidia Inception accelerator will help startups succeed by providing access to the aforementioned supercomputer, connections to researchers from NVIDIA and partners, technical training, and marketing promotion.
• Industry Collaboration – AI is still in its infancy but will impact every industry to some extent. Nvidia says its new research facility will be an open hub for industry collaboration, building on the company’s existing relationships with the likes of GSK, Oxford Nanopore, and other leaders in their fields.

The UK is Europe’s leader in AI and the British government is investing heavily in ensuring it maintains its pole position. Beyond funding, the UK is also aiming to ensure it’s among the best places to run an AI company.

Current EU rules, especially around data, are often seen as limiting the development of European AI companies when compared to elsewhere in the world. While the UK will have to avoid being accused of doing a so-called “bonfire of regulations” post-Brexit, data collection regulations is likely an area which will be relaxed.

In the UK’s historic trade deal signed with Japan last week, several enhancements were made over the blanket EU-Japan deal signed earlier this year. Among the perceived improvements is the “free flow of data” by not enforcing localisation requirements, and that algorithms can remain private.

UK trade secretary Liz Truss said: “The agreement we have negotiated – in record time and in challenging circumstances – goes far beyond the existing EU deal, as it secures new wins for British businesses in our great manufacturing, food and drink, and tech industries.”

Japan and the UK, as two global tech giants, are expected to deepen their collaboration in the coming years—building on the trade deal signed last week.

Shigeki Ishizuka, Chairman of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, said: “We are confident that this mutual relationship will be further strengthened as an ambitious agreement that will contribute to the promotion of cooperation in research and development, the promotion of innovation, and the further expansion of inter-company collaboration.”

Nvidia’s investment shows that it has confidence in the UK’s strong AI foundations continuing to gain momentum in the coming years.

(Photo by A Perry on Unsplash)

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Despite increasing AI investments around the world, 65 percent of the top 100 AI startups were located in the US. However, some of the companies also had headquarters in other countries.

It’s little surprise to see the most promising AI companies based in the world’s largest economy, but some of the others are more surprising.

The UK and Canada were in joint second place as homes of the most promising AI startups, while China just slipped into third. Isreal took fourth place.

Aside from the UK, much of Europe had a poor showing in CB Insight’s research. Germany was the highest-ranking EU member in the report with just two promising AI startups.

AI relies heavily on data and the EU has some of the strictest data regulations in the world. Some experts believe this puts European companies at a significant disadvantage compared to their global counterparts. To help European AI startups overcome this challenge, the EU is currently considering a “single market” for data.

The UK continues to benefit from being the leading destination in Europe for foreign investment with the US being the country’s largest single investor. The UK is also home to the European headquarters of many Silicon Valley giants who benefit from the talent produced by the country’s renowned universities helping to address the global shortage of AI talent. Arguably, the most successful AI story out of the UK is that of DeepMind which was acquired by Google for over $500 million in 2014.

One of the 100 companies appearing on CB Insight’s top AI firms is InstaDeep, a UK-based AI R&D company that jointly published a research paper last year alongside DeepMind on a reinforcement learning algorithm called AlphaNPI.

Here are the other AI firms in this year’s top 100 sorted by category:

CB Insights analysed data on around 5,000 global AI startups for its research. According to the research firm, the healthcare category is currently showing the most promise followed by retail and warehousing.

4,300 startups in 80 countries have raised $83 billion since 2014, including $26.6 billion just last year, according to CB Insights. However, the share of investments into US-based AI firms dropped from 71 percent to 39 percent in that period.

You can find the full report from CB Insights here.

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Around 30 AI experts are based at Samsung’s current Paris office working on research and development projects.

The Paris-based AI lab of Samsung is smaller than centres based in London, Toronto, and Montreal. While the lab itself is smaller than its counterparts elsewhere in the world, Samsung is seeking local partners to help advance its AI ambitions.

Sohn Young-kwon, Chief Strategy Officer of Samsung, is due to visit the Paris office in May to review its plans and meet local AI startups. These firms could be up for potential acquisition.

“Companies that could create synergies with Samsung’s AI lab are being identified for possible M&As,” local news outlet Maeil Business News reported.

Samsung has invested in 13 AI-related startups so far. Among the most notable is Viv Labs, founded by the creators of Siri.

Overall, the firm has invested more than $200 million in 75 startups through its various investment units.

Samsung has big plans for AI and recently announced it aims to have its entire range of electronic products fitted with AI by 2020.

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