Antler, Rubio and Prosus Ventures launch Backbone to get more European AI startups past seed

What's the deal? On 12 November 2026, Antler, Rubio Impact Ventures and Prosus Ventures launched Backbone, a collective for inception and pre-seed founders who use AI and deeptech to make Europe's critical systems more resilient, from energy and cybersecurity to supply chains, healthcare and food. Applications are open at backbone.antler.co.

How it works: Selected teams spend eight weeks at AI House Amsterdam, with weekly coaching from the partners and a closing pitch to all three investment teams, who select the teams together. Up to 10 teams take part at a time, in person at least three days a week. No equity is required to join, and each firm decides independently whether to invest. The first teams start in early December. Founders must be based in Europe or willing to move there, and want to build their company from Europe.

Why now: The partners say more AI engineers are starting companies in Europe than ever before, but fewer get past seed. On the Backbone site they cite a 14-fold rise in AI engineers starting companies in Europe since 2023, that only 9% of startups that raised seed funding in 2023 have raised a Series A so far, compared with 23% between 2008 and 2019, and a 42% drop in the number of active early-stage investors since 2022.

What they say: "We've studied what sets apart the start-ups that reach Series A. Two things stand out: a strong seed round, and a founder who has seen a company scale before. Most first-time AI founders have neither," said Ronald Jan Schuurs, Partner at Antler. "Europe doesn't lack AI talent. It lacks places where that talent can grow into companies that last. This is how Europe becomes an AI maker, not an AI taker," said Sebastiaan Vaessen, Head of Europe at Prosus Ventures. "Technology alone doesn't create impact. Ambitious founders do," said Ilonka Jankovich, Venture Partner at Rubio.

Sources: Prosus
Rubio Impact Ventures
Backbone