SAP and Bosch Ventures Join Heavyweights in Aleph Alpha’s $500M Series B Funding
BERLIN, Nov. 7, 2023 -- Aleph Alpha, a leader in the field of explainable and trustworthy AI, today announced the successful signing of its Series B financing round. The Heidelberg-based company raised more than US$500 million from a consortium of a total of seven new investors as well as existing investors from previous rounds.
The consortium is led by the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (Ipai), Bosch Ventures and the companies of 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 Burda Principal Investments. Existing institutional investors participated in addition, completing the oversubscribed round.
Each party involved in this round plays a vital role in helping Aleph Alpha achieve its goal of providing sovereign AI solutions to enterprises and governments. The total funding exceeds half a billion US dollars, encompassing a substantial investment in applied research by Ipai, as well as commitments for joint business development.
This includes preconsumption licenses with the global industry leaders of the consortium, aimed at scaling up the business model.
This commitment strengthens the foundation for Aleph Alpha to further advance its proprietary AI research, accelerate 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.
“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.” Jonas Andrulis, CEO and founder of Aleph Alpha, on the successful Series B round.
Germany as the Base for International Expansion of Explainable and Trustworthy Sovereign AI
The significant enhancement of the capabilities of Large Language Models by a European company gives government agencies as well as companies the opportunity to build and apply AI in a sovereign environment, as Aleph Alpha combines data protection and security with unique explainability and customization options.
“Aleph Alpha will shape the future of Generative AI and set new standards for this key technology. As such, Aleph Alpha is a perfect fit with our sovereign Cloud and Cyber Security offerings STACKIT and XM Cyber. This technology will enable us to further optimize our digital services – both for the companies of Schwarz Group and our external customers,” said Rolf Schumann, Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits.
“Actively developing Generative AI will be crucial for Europe’s technological sovereignty. That’s why we at Bosch are opening fields of application and business models and playing a key role in shaping this cutting-edge technology together with other companies such as Aleph Alpha,” said Dr. Tanja Rückert, member of the Board of Management and Chief Digital Officer of Robert Bosch GmbH.
“We are amazed by the incredible potential of technology and opportunities in a new era of human-machine collaboration. Our commercial traction is motivating us to grow to meet our clients’ 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 building these partnerships towards a leading position in their respective industries. Our unique explainability and trust technology plays a crucial role in this,” said Jonas Andrulis.
About Aleph Alpha
Aleph Alpha, a 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.
Source: Aleph Alpha
