Inside the 70 person European startup that punches way above its weight in the AI space

When you think of AI, you probably think of the big names like OpenAI and Anthropic, but over in Germany, there’s a startup punching well above its weight and working with some absolutely huge companies.

AI has gone from a science fiction concept to a part of everyday life at an impressive pace.

More than a billion people use artificial intelligence worldwide, with more than 60 percent of people saying they use it on a ‘regular basis’. 

With AI adoption moving at breakneck speed, we’re also seeing startups and new companies emerging, including Black Forest Labs, which is doing some incredible work within AI image generation. 

Black Forest Lab is already working with some huge names

Even frequent AI users would be forgiven for not being familiar with the name Black Forest Labs, but the Germany-based startup is already making waves. 

Launching in 2024, Black Forest Labs is dwarfed by companies like Google and OpenAI, but it punches well above its weight and is already working with some huge names, including Adobe and Canva. 

Off the back of those contracts, Black Forest Labs was able to raise funds based on a $3.25 billion valuation back in December. 

Shortly after launching, xAI signed an agreement with the company to power Grok’s first image generator, and it has also worked with other major AI labs from Microsoft and Meta. 

Not bad for a startup with just 70 staff, right?

The reason that big companies want to work with Black Forest Labs is simple: it’s one of the best AI image generators in the world. 

According to Artificial Analysis, it sits just behind Google Gemini and OpenAI’s chatbot as the strongest AI image generator out there. 

And it’s managed to achieve all this with far fewer resources behind it than the likes of Google or OpenAI, making its rise all the more impressive.

The startup is eying big plans, which might include AI-powered robots

As you might have guessed from its impressive backstory, Black Forest Labs is ambitious. 

Co-founder Andreas Blattmann recently told Wired that AI image generation is really just the beginning for the startup. 

“Visual intelligence is so much more than content creation. Content creation is just the first segue into this entire technology,” Blattmann told the publication. 

“What I’m personally super excited about is physical AI.”

Although Blattman didn’t elaborate on exactly what this might look like, sources close to the company said Black Forest Labs is in talks with several hardware companies to use its AI to power products, including robots and smart glasses.

And based on its previous success, we reckon that Black Forest Labs might be one to watch.