Amsterdam AI platform Balthazar raises €1.2 million in pre-seed round

Balthazar, an Amsterdam-based company founded in 2024 that is building an AI platform for DeepTech R&D laboratories, has raised €1.2 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by CapitalT, with participation from early-stage investor Antler and a number of Dutch innovation funds. Total funding for the company now stands at €1.8 million.

Balthazar's platform enables researchers to set up, monitor and manage experiments from the browser. It targets a specific niche: laboratories in sectors such as advanced semiconductors, quantum technology and energy storage, where R&D workflows tend to be complex and fragmented. The company says the platform has supported more than 6,000 experiments to date and is in use at laboratories including those of TU Delft.

The announcement was made on 2 July 2025. The company was founded by Dejan Davidovikj, who serves as CEO, and Konstantin Mertsalov.

What the platform does

Balthazar describes itself as an operating system for R&D labs in deep tech. Researchers can run, monitor in real time and manage experiments through the browser, with every step of the R&D workflow brought together in a single environment. The platform incorporates AI functionality to support those workflows, although the company does not publish technical details about the underlying models or architecture.

Its focus on laboratory environments in deep tech sets Balthazar apart from broader research or project management tools. Sectors such as quantum technology and semiconductor manufacturing have their own measurement protocols and data formats, which means generic software often falls short. Whether and how Balthazar achieves those specific integrations cannot be further verified on the basis of the available source material.

Investors and prior funding

The €1.2 million pre-seed round was led by CapitalT, a Dutch venture capital firm focused on early growth stages. Antler, a globally active early-stage fund that also runs a programme in Amsterdam, also participated. Dutch innovation funds were involved as well; source material previously mentions support from Innovatiefonds NH, Rabobank and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), although it is not always clear whether these participated in this specific round or in earlier trajectories.

Total funding thereby reaches €1.8 million, with some sources citing €1.85 million. Balthazar is less than eighteen months old and has already drawn on multiple funding sources in that short time.

Use of proceeds

Balthazar intends to deploy the raised capital for three purposes: product development, improving the AI functionality within the platform, and expanding the team. No further details about specific milestones, timelines or target team size have been disclosed.

For a young company at the pre-seed stage, the combination of product development and team growth is typical: the platform is still at an early stage and the core technology is being further developed. The emphasis on AI improvement suggests that the current functionality is seen as a starting point rather than a finished product.

Context within the Dutch deep tech ecosystem

Balthazar operates at the intersection of two areas that have gained considerable attention in the Netherlands in recent years: AI tooling and deep tech. With institutions such as TU Delft, ASML and a growing number of spin-offs, the Netherlands holds a relatively strong position in sectors including semiconductors and quantum technology. The fact that Balthazar is finding customers precisely there is therefore understandable.

For founders and investors in this segment, the funding round illustrates how early-stage B2B AI tools for scientific environments can attract investment, even at the pre-seed stage. The involvement of CapitalT and Antler, both active in the Dutch early-stage ecosystem, confirms that there is appetite for vertical AI applications targeting professional niches with complex workflows.