AI Founders Club Recognised in the European Commission’s Apply AI Strategy
Recognised in the European Commission’s new Apply AI Strategy as a model for strengthening AI entrepreneurship, the EIT AI Community’s AI Founders Club empowers Europe’s next generation of innovators – bridging talent, funding and impact to drive responsible AI growth.
Building a European Home for AI Entrepreneurship Through Tailored Support for Founders
The AI Founders Club, an EIT Community initiative, is a peer-to-peer, investor-ready programme for early-stage European AI startups with disruptive, high-risk, high-gain ideas. By linking top graduates and entrepreneurs with mentors, investors and international networks – including the EIT Silicon Valley Hub under the EIT Global Outreach programme – the Club helps founders strengthen business models, access finance and scale responsibly within Europe’s trusted AI ecosystem.
In addition to the AI Founders Club, the EIT AI Community also runs several other initiatives, including:
- the AI Challenge (matchmaking AI challenges with the right solution-providers);
- several strategic tools and platforms – notably SkillSync (AI upskilling ecosystem), the AI Maturity Tool (organisational readiness assessment) and the AI Act Conformity Tool (a tool to assess compliance with EU guidelines).
Together, these programmes ensure support across the full spectrum: from individual talent and founders, through to corporate and public-sector deployment, skills development and regulatory compliance.
Stories from the AI Founders Club’s Pilot Edition
The 2025 pilot supported six AI startups, already demonstrating strong impact. These ventures show how EIT-backed support for AI founders translates into real results – turning responsible innovation into market-ready solutions across diverse sectors.
- Artiwise enables organisations to turn unstructured feedback into actionable insights through AI-driven customer experience tools.
- Bit&R teaches real coding to young learners (10+) by moving from blocks to HTML, CSS and JavaScript through game creation.
- Istya combines air-quality intelligence with predictive AI to cut energy use by up to 30% while improving indoor wellbeing.
- Pandatron AI supports enterprise change with AI-powered coaching that builds buy-in, identifies risks early and speeds up results.
- Thoughtful Oasis delivers interpretable, auditable RAG via ontological vector databases for transparent, reliable AI search.
- WeavAir provides Sustainability-as-a-Service for direct measurement, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions.
A European Movement for AI Excellence
Building on its recognition in the Apply AI Strategy, the AI Founders Club continues to strengthen Europe’s trusted, inclusive and competitive AI ecosystem. Following its successful pilot, the AI Founders Club will continue to support founders in 2026.
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