Meta, Hugging Face and Scaleway Launch AI Accelerator for European Startups

Meta, Hugging Face and Scaleway have launched a new AI accelerator program targeting European startups that wish to integrate open foundation models into their products. This initiative will provide a selected group of European startups with access to state-of-the-art open models and AI resources, thereby advancing the EU AI ecosystem and driving the next wave of innovation. 

Meta has partnered with Hugging Face, a community-driven platform hosting machine learning models and tools, and Scaleway, a leading European cloud provider for AI infrastructure, to introduce the “AI Startup Program.” This program aims to enhance the adoption of open-source AI solutions across Europe. Applications are now open to startups from all EU member states, focusing on delivering economic and technological advancements through open models.

Based at STATION F in Paris, the AI Startup Program will leverage the resources of the world’s largest startup campus. Supported by the HEC incubator, the program will accelerate five startups at the MVP or product stage from September 2024 to February 2025. A panel of experts from Meta, Hugging Face and Scaleway will select startups based on their use of open foundation models or plans to integrate these models into their products and services.

Selected startups will receive technical mentoring from Meta’s Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) team, access to Hugging Face’s platform and tools, and Scaleway’s computing power to develop their services using open-source AI technology. This program builds on the success of the first edition announced in November 2023, which supported startups like Pollen Robotics, Fringuant, and Qevlar AI in their innovative projects.

“Meta has been a pioneer in open innovation in AI for over a decade. Our state-of-the-art AI models, like Llama, have significantly impacted the broader community. Through this program, we aim to help European developers innovate faster, stimulating market growth and propelling the European ecosystem forward,” said Marco Pancini, Head of EU Affairs at Meta.

“The success of Meta’s first AI startup program highlights Europe’s exceptional AI talent and their passion for open, collaborative innovation. Hugging Face is thrilled to support the program’s second cohort with open-source solutions,” stated Clément Delangue, CEO and co-founder at Hugging Face.

“As Europe’s leading provider of AI compute power, Scaleway is excited to collaborate again with Meta and Hugging Face on this new edition of our AI startup program. Our extensive NVIDIA H100 GPU cluster allows startups to innovate at new levels while keeping data within Europe. We are proud to support the next generation of European AI startups,” remarked Damien Lucas, CEO at Scaleway.

“With the current excitement around AI, Meta’s program at STATION F has quickly become one of the most coveted. We are thrilled that Meta, alongside Hugging Face and Scaleway, plans to extend this program to a European level to collaborate with the region’s top AI innovators,” said Roxanne Varza, Director at Station F.

Applications are open until August 16, 2024.

Startups can apply at fb.me/AIStartupProgram.