AI developer Aleph Alpha bagged more than $500 million in its latest funding round, with Bosch’s venture capital arm and HPE among the big players backing the start-up. 

The funding round was led by research campus Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (Ipai), Bosch Ventures and subsidiaries of retail player Schwarz Group, Aleph Alpha stated. They were joined by seven new investors including software giant SAP and HPE. 

Aleph Alpha was established in 2019 and develops what it describes as “sovereign AI solutions” to governments and enterprises. It intends to use the investment to advance its foundation model research, and step up product capabilities and commercialisation with its partners. 

In its funding statement the company claimed enhanced capability large language models from a European player would give “government agencies as well as companies the opportunity to build and apply AI in a sovereign environment”. 

Aleph Alpha targets its products at sensitive industries including healthcare, law, finance, government and security.

Tanja Rueckert, chief digital officer and member of the board at Bosch, said developing generative AI will be “crucial for Europe’s technological sovereignty”, and Aleph Alpha’s CEO Jonas Andrulis cited the company is “the best option” for environments where “sovereignty is at risk”.