EIC-backed AI and software trailblazers showcase their innovations to leading investors at the latest EIC ePitching

The European Innovation Council (EIC) brought together eight of Europe’s top deep tech companies and a strong lineup of investors at the online EIC ePitching on AI and Software on 8 July 2025. Organised under the EIC Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme, part of the EIC Business Acceleration Services, the ePitching attracted 26 investors and led to 30+ follow-up meetings and introductions with the selected EIC-backed innovators.

Meet the EIC-backed companies present at the ePitching:

• Multiverse Computing, the world’s leading efficient AI scale-up delivering ultra-efficient, quantum-inspired AI model compression that use proprietary tech to yield orders of magnitude improvement in inference costs and speed, with on-par performance.
• Axelera AI is Europe‘s only solution offering a complete AI computing platform designed to speed up AI work, with sovereign semiconductor technology. Using their innovative chip technology, their processors deliver 10x faster, 3-5x more energy-efficient AI workloads at a fraction of the competitors‘ cost. Founded in 2021, Axelera AI has 200+ employees serving 230+ customers globally.
• DeepKeep offers a security and trust layer for AI systems, including language models and computer vision tools. The technology assesses risks and vulnerabilities (like hacking attempts, errors, AI “hallucinations” (when AI shares incorrect answers) and then provides ongoing context-aware guardrails and mitigation. The company is already working with clients in financial services and insurance.
• Iktos is a global leader in AI and robotics for drug discovery. Its generative AI designs molecules in silico to meet key success criteria. Offered as Software as a Service (SaaS) and via pharma collaborations, Iktos integrates AI design, robotic synthesis, and biological testing. With 60+ successful projects, it also develops its pipeline of drug candidates in oncology, obesity and metabolism, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
• Kvantify presents a computational drug discovery platform to help biotech and pharmaceutical companies improve the quality of the compounds they test in the lab by leveraging proprietary, high-speed, accurate physics-based methods. Through their algorithms and specialist expertise they promise to optimise their customers‘ drug discovery pipeline.
• Neuron Soundware delivers AI, IoT, and edge computing solutions for industrial, transportation and power equipment optimization through real-time monitoring. The aim is to enhance efficiency, reliability and resource use. Serving energy, manufacturing and mobility, with over 130 global installations, it is a top-five leader in AI-powered audio diagnostics.
• Twinsity is an AI-powered digital twin inspection platform that transforms visual data from drones and robots into actionable insights. The solution helps industrial asset owners detect defects, create 3D digital twins, and generate audit-ready reports 10x faster and up to 90% more cost-efficient than manual inspections.
• Vsora works to reshape the future of AI inference by revolutionising AI processing with its unique chip engineered for superior performance. VSORA provides ultra-high-performance chips for AI data centre inference, autonomous driving, robotics and edge AI applications.

Multiverse Computing was considered the best pitch of the day, with Axelera AI securing second place according to the investors’ votes during the session.

Meet the winner! Multiverse Computing: where quantum speed meets sustainable AI

With a solution that delivers AI model inference speeds four to 12 times faster than existing solutions, while cutting operating costs and energy consumption by 50% to 80%, Multiverse Computing was recognised by investors as the best pitch of the day.

The company is a global pioneer in quantum software for AI. Its platform, designed to work across edge devices, including on-premise systems and the cloud, is both hardware and use-case agnostic. Harshit Krisna, Head of Growth, Funding Strategy and CorpDev at Multiverse Computing explained what makes the company stand out:

We’re unlocking AI at the edge, on-premise, and in the cloud, with a universal approach that makes inference cheaper and greener. We’re servicing enterprises and startups around the world, and helping Europe lead in AI and data sovereignty.

Founded in 2019 by a team of experts eager to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges, Multiverse Computing has been an EIC beneficiary since its early days, receiving support throughout its growth journey. The company, in the words of Harshit Krisna, credits its growth trajectory to the ongoing support from the EIC:

We’ve been with the EIC since we were a very small company, and we still find the right people to talk to at every event. The feedback and visibility we get here are of tremendous value.

Axelera AI: Europe's AI chip powerhouse

Axelera AI, recognised as the second-best pitch of the day, is Europe’s only end-to-end AI compute platform provider and a standout in sovereign AI semiconductor innovation. Since its founding in 2021, the company has grown to a team of over 200 people, including 60 PhDs, and supports over 230 customers globally. Its cutting-edge Digital In-Memory Computing and RISC-V-based chips offer 10x faster AI inference and up to 5x better energy efficiency. In the words of Louis Mather, CCO of Axelera AI:

We’re building the world’s best chips for AI inference. And we’re doing it from Europe, which is completely unique. This event brought us five high-potential investor conversations and sparked strategic discussions with fellow startups. It was a rare and highly valuable platform.

Mather emphasised the importance of European technological sovereignty, especially in a domain as strategic as AI hardware:

Our European identity is a key differentiator. Customers value not just our performance, but also the assurance of sovereignty and transparency that we bring.

Investor’s impressions: high-calibre start-ups and strategic opportunities

The selected EIC beneficiaries got to pitch online to a panel of high-level investors from Amadeus Capital Partners, Capricorn Partners, Crowberry Capital, DN Capital, eCapital, Equinor, Matterwave Ventures, GET Fund, NGP Capital, Open Ocean, Omnes Capital, Partech Partners, SAP, Voima Ventures, among others.

Asked about their impressions on the pitches of the day, investors highlighted the diversity and depth of companies presented, noting how they demonstrate Europe’s strength in key technology areas, from AI infrastructure and synthetic data to robotics, healthcare and drug discovery. Silviu Apostu, Principal at Matterwave Ventures, complimented the EIC’s selection:

The EIC does a good, and increasingly better, job of evaluating and selecting companies through its programmes. By the time they meet us, they’ve been tested on several fronts. There’s a minimum quality guarantee; it’s like a seal of approval.

Silviu Apostu also praised the diversity and potential of the selection, noting that some start-ups sparked direct investment conversations.

Overall, the quality was high. We’ve already set up follow-up talks with several companies. While AI and software aren’t our core themes, they’re highly relevant for our broader focus on industrial tech and climate. Some of the pitches were particularly strong: especially those addressing critical verticals like drug design or cybersecurity.

In parallel, Capricorn’s Investment Partner, Steven Lambert, also praised the work and access facilitated by the EIC.

The EIC portfolio hits many of our sweet spots: semiconductors, clean tech, energy transition. What makes it stand out is access. These aren’t just companies we already know; we’re discovering promising opportunities that are hard to find elsewhere. Capricorn has been attending for many years, and we’ve consistently been impressed by the quality of the companies. There aren’t many events that focus on deep tech and deliver such high-quality deal flow.

He also pointed out the range of startup maturity as a strength of the format.

Some companies are still early stage, testing product-market fit, while others are already scaling. That variety makes it valuable for investors like us looking across different stages of development.

Discover the next EIC ePitching sessions

The upcoming pitching sessions under the programme will focus on:

• Food and agritech (online, 24 September)
• Healthcare (Paris, 6 October)
• Energy transition and sustainable energy (online, 16 October – accepting applications from startups until 3 August).

Investor interested to join any of these events are invited to send an email to the email address investments@eicfund.eu indicating the name of event they are interested in.

Stay tuned for additional information.

About the EIC Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme

This opportunity is brought to you by the EIC Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme, part of the EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS). The programme aims to enhance the investor readiness of EIC Accelerator innovators by providing them with the necessary tools and knowledge to attract investment and scale their ventures. Once ready, the programme also provides introductions to the best investors in their sector through ePitchings and Investor Days.

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