Believing in the European vision for AI
This marks Abzu’s third office in Europe and the first expansion of its physical footprint since Abzu’s inception in January 2018 with joint offices in Copenhagen, Denmark and Barcelona, Spain.
“Our goal is to become the leading European AI company,” says co-founder Casper Wilstrup. “Our story is that with 25 people in a small, European company, we are developing technology that in many respects is better than what Big Tech’s black-box AI offers.”
Abzu’s pioneering technology, the QLattice, introduces a new standard of interpretability to artificial intelligence, a domain that has historically lacked the crucial elements of transparency and explainability. Several of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies are already making discoveries with Abzu’s QLattice because it reveals new insights to researchers and data scientists.
Aiming to break the US and China’s dominance in AI
Europe has not had first-mover advantage in AI development and application, and the US and China have had the additional advantage of accumulating large quantities of data with little ethical oversight.
“That’s why Europe needs a trustworthy AI that performs just as strongly on small and wide data sets as it does with big data,” says Casper. “The QLattice balances simplicity with performance, and our continued successes in the life sciences will establish Europe as a leader in human-centric AI. Ethical norms are being practiced here in Basel, which not only speaks to our personal and professional values at Abzu, but also bolsters this European vision for AI.”
Basel Area Business & Innovation, a non-profit agency dedicated to helping startups, institutions, and companies find business success in the Basel Area, was integral in supporting Abzu’s settlement and facilitating access to the thriving ecosystem.
“Establishing an office at the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area has put us squarely in a world-leading pharmaceutical ecosystem. The number of new interactions with startups, institutions, and companies is staggering,” says Samuel Demharter, Bioinformatician at Abzu, and regular in Basel. “We are already seeing real progress and increased energy in this life science cluster around ethical innovation.”
About Abzu
The QLattice introduces a new standard of interpretability and explainability to life science data sets. Through simple models and straightforward mathematical expressions, Abzu’s QLattice achieves a level of transparency and performance in machine learning that is disrupting domains previously dominated by opaque and cumbersome models.
Founded in January 2018, Abzu is a deep tech startup with offices in Copenhagen, Denmark and Barcelona, Spain. Abzu derives its name from Ancient Sumerian, meaning “the source of the waters of wisdom”.
Abzu has raised a total of €8,1M, and last closed a seed round in April 2021 for €4.9M.
About Basel Area Business & Innovation
Basel Area Business & Innovation is a non-profit agency dedicated to helping startups, institutions and companies find business success in the Basel Area. The agency attracts and supports companies moving into the region, connects organizations and entrepreneurs with collaboration partners, and helps create a vibrant ecosystem that fosters innovation.
For more information, visit: www.baselarea.swiss.
