17 Oct 2025
Europe's AI launchpad: Why Amsterdam needs its AI House
This month, AI House Amsterdam opened its doors for its inaugural event. Designed to concentrate talent and ambition, the AI House brings together entrepreneurs, founders, startups, researchers, artists, and students in a space built for learning, building, and open dialogue. Through free AI training and workshops, hackathons, investor-founder events, and residency programs for top AI talent, the AI House will provide a platform where brilliant ideas don't just emerge—they scale.
More than a physical workspace, AI House is a catalyst for the collaborations that will define Europe's future as an "AI maker", not an "AI taker". We believe the Netherlands—with its unique combination of brilliant founders, abundant talent, and scientific excellence—can lead the next wave of AI innovation. At Prosus, we're backing this vision with concrete commitment. We plan to grow our AI team fivefold over the next two years, while investing deeply in the European AI startup and scale-up ecosystem.
A hub for Europe's AI future
The Netherlands has a unique opportunity to shape the future of AI - not only for Europe, but globally. With the most dense AI talent pool in Europe (8% of the EU's AI professionals despite just 2.8% of the EU population), a dynamic network of startups, plus world-class universities and researchers, the country has the right ingredients to become Europe's AI powerhouse. Yet, despite a strong foundation, the Netherlands has so far lacked the momentum to be a leader in AI development. While Paris, London, and Zurich accelerate in agentic AI development, Amsterdam risks falling behind. So what’s missing?
High levels of AI distrust in the Netherlands have fostered an emphasis on regulation and ethics that, while important, must be balanced with the speed of innovation that’s needed to compete on the global stage. And while the talent pool is deep, 70% sits in traditional industries or government roles, rather than tech-native companies. Equally troubling is the brain drain to Silicon Valley, which attracts top Dutch PhD researchers with ambitious projects and abundant resources.
The challenge isn't about creating talent from scratch; it's about creating the conditions for that talent to thrive at home. It's about giving researchers compelling reasons to build their futures in Amsterdam rather than relocating to San Francisco. It's about channeling Dutch AI talent towards ambitious challenges. And it's about transforming distrust into understanding and progress through education, collaboration, and tangible impact.
Join Us
The AI House exists to accelerate this transformation. By fostering connections between industry and academia, between startups and established tech leaders, between visionary artists and practical engineers, we're building the connective tissue to turn potential into leadership.
Whether you're a founder with a bold vision, a researcher pushing boundaries, or a student eager to learn, the AI House is your launchpad.
Join us at our upcoming events and be part of building Europe's AI future. Visit https://www.aihouse.nl/ to register your interest and stay tuned for more.
The future of AI will be shaped by many places—let's make sure Amsterdam is one of them.
About Prosus
Prosus is the power behind the world’s leading lifestyle ecommerce brands, across Europe, India, and Latin America, unlocking an AI-first world for our 2 billion customers.
The Prosus technology ecosystem spans food delivery, payments, classifieds, travel, events, and mobility. Our integrated approach enhances user engagement and creates the foundation for unprecedented AI capabilities through proprietary data and cross-service intelligence.
Through Prosus Ventures, we invest in companies which inspire and support the Prosus ecosystem. We search for new opportunities at the leading edge of AI and ecommerce, the digital AI workforce and in frontier technologies, such as robotics, drones and synbio.
The team actively backs exceptional entrepreneurs who are using technology to improve people’s everyday lives.
To find out more, please visit www.prosus.com.