Startups that build artificial intelligence (AI) applications on top of large language models (LLMs) are reportedly making rapid gains in both sales and funding. These startups are reaching as much as $200 million in annual recurring revenue in less than two years and, as a group, increased the amount of funding they attracted by 110% to reach $8.2 billion in 2024, the Financial Times (FT) reported Monday (April 14), citing data from Dealroom.co and Flashpoint. This category of AI startups includes companies like Perplexity, Synthesia,  ElevenLabs, Harvey and Sierra, according to the report

Wisetail announces new partnership with Synthesia to power high-quality training videos.

According to the Tech.eu database, European tech companies raised €6.6 billion throughout January 2025. In comparison to the same period in previous years, January 2025 experienced a notable decline of about 60 per cent compared to 2024, but an increase of roughly 40 per cent compared to 2023. Harry Haeck, Partner at Smartfin, commented on the January numbers within the European tech investment landscape in our January Tech.eu Pulse, a compact version of the monthly report:The new year began with a major shift in AI as China’s DeepSeek released its open-source R1 model, challenging well-funded AI giants. This marks a fundamental shift in AI economics, allowing European startups to develop competitive AI solutions at a fraction of previous costs. By reducing reliance on massive data centres and expensive model training, it lowers barriers to entry and presents a rare opportunity for Europe to regain ground in AI development, provided startups and investors act swiftly