Funding for European AI agent startups continues to rise as investors double down on the latest hype bubble in tech.
So far in 2025, VCs have pumped more than €600m into the sector, according to Sifted data. That’s more than a third of the €1.7bn raised across the whole of 2024 — and we’re less than two months into the year.
In the past two weeks alone, legaltech Luminance raised $75m and buzzy agentic coding startup Lovable picked up $15m. Lovable also announced it was making $17m in annual recurring revenue three months after launching.
So with investors keener than ever to throw money at AI agents, what types of startups do they actually want to see?
To find out, Sifted asked them.
Sustainable manufacturing
Salomé Caillat, senior associate at Revaia
I’m particularly excited about the potential of AI agents to drive sustainability in manufacturing. One area with immense untapped potential is the sourcing, supply chain management and carbon footprint reduction of sustainable materials.
AI could create agents capable of automating the entire process — from identifying the most sustainable raw materials and managing sourcing processes to analysing and improving the environmental impact throughout the production lifecycle.
AI agents that can optimise production while lowering environmental impact will also become critical in achieving the sustainable transformation that industries urgently need.
Agentic procurement processes
Manal Belaouane, principal at HV Capital
The enterprise sector is primed for the next wave of process automation. I would focus on creating AI agents that automate and optimise complex business workflows.
Imagine an advanced AI agent orchestrating every step of the procurement process in real time. Rather than merely automating discrete tasks, this agent would parse vendor contracts for compliance and risk factors, autonomously negotiate terms, generate purchase orders, track shipments for potential disruptions and reconcile invoices — integrating with existing enterprise resource planning and supply chain systems.
By continuously learning from historical data and market signals, it could also predict future bottlenecks and optimise purchasing decisions before issues arise.
AI agents for industrial workflows
Oli Kicks, partner at Concept Ventures
AI agents could streamline complex industrial and manufacturing workflows by ingesting all the unstructured data that exists across in the working environment — like equipment manuals, technician notes, sensor logs and even voice memos from engineers.
The series of agents would act as a real-time copilot, using natural language processing and computer vision to interpret context-specific processes. These could include things like machinery repair and maintenance and chemical batch optimisation, and guide workers through troubleshooting, predictive maintenance or compliance checks.
Industries are drowning in decades of fragmented, unstructured data but lack operationalised tools and there’s an urgency to digitise expertise. VCs everywhere are on the hunt for vertical-specific AI that doesn’t just automate tasks but augments human knowledge in high-stakes, asset-heavy sectors.
AI agents for services
Marton Sarkadi Nagy, partner at Visionaries Club
For decades, verticals such as legal, sales or accounting were deemed too human-intensive to automate fully; now, that logic is out the window. Advanced AI agents can parse legal contracts or balance sheets in a fraction of the time it would take a human, transforming what was a billable-hour service into a scalable product.
Our view is that an AI agent-first law firm or accounting practice can have margins and growth profiles like a SaaS unicorn — an idea that would have sounded crazy five years ago.
While still in its infancy, we are seeing service-heavy businesses turning into software-first plays as a clear trend. For investors, this shift from Software-as-a-Service to "Service-as-a-Software" means even the stodgiest industries can suddenly look attractive.
B2B AI brokers for frictionless commerce
Sivesh Sukumar, investor at Balderton Capital
I’d like to see AI agents replace human brokers for B2B services. Brokers streamline inefficient markets like estate agents, insurance, stocks and shares and financial services by quickly securing the best prices for buyers, eliminating the need to contact multiple suppliers with varying prices and availability.
Traditionally, brokers rely on phone calls and emails, making the business labour-intensive and low-margin, but potentially high revenue. AI agent brokers have the potential to scale beyond human limitations, enabling real-time communication and automating tasks like requesting and presenting quotes.
AI agent brokers could not only reduce costs but also unlock new revenue opportunities. Unlike human brokers, who may underutilise data, AI agents can rapidly analyse historical trends — such as historical prices — to help buyers make better decisions.
