Your journey starts here
You must be a complete team, one that combines ambition, technical expertise, and the willingness to build something genuinely new. Coming in solo or as a pair? We enable you to connect with the right partners at our events before you apply. It’s not about where you start. It’s what you’re ready to create together.
If you’re still looking for co-founders and teammates you can check out the Discord server run by the community.
How does the €125M challenge work?
€125M non-dilutive funding for 10 teams following three stages:
We host a series of events in major cities across Europe where you can learn more about the initiative, hear from Frontier AI experts, and connect with potential partners in person. Whether you're looking for tech expertise, strategic thinking, or operational experience, this is where you find the right team.
1. Proposal + pitch: up to 10 teams selected
- 30 April 2026 Application period opens
- 01 June 2026 Application deadline
- June 2026 Proposal screening and pitch
- 24/25 June 2026 In-person pitches in front of jury
The jury then selects up to 10 teams to enter the funded build phase.
2. Funded build phase (July 2026–Autumn 2028)
The 10 selected teams get serious funding, compute and hands-on support. This is real lab-building capital, not a stipend.
You move through staged gates with down-selection until up to 3 winners remain.
At each gate, the jury looks at research agenda, metrics, infra, MLOps, evals, safety, and early pilots.
3. Outcome of the challenge
The goal is not a single winning lab, but up to 3 venture-ready labs with pilots, eval suites, infra, teams, and investment-grade data rooms.
What you can expect
- Competition meets collaboration: you run in parallel with other labs, see what they're doing, sometimes share insights – and still push to outrun them.
- Freedom over bureaucracy: we cut paperwork where we can. Funding follows progress, not slide decks.
- Results drive decisions: if your system learns faster, scales better, or shifts real-world metrics, you advance.
Contact
Dr. Johannes Otterbach
Senior Investment Advisor AI & Quantum
Ready to build?
Applications open on April 30th and close on 1 June 2026. Join the community newsletter for updates, announcements – and a heads-up when applications open.