Brainport Eindhoven as a deeptech region in 2026

Eindhoven has been known for decades as an industrial and technological region, but in recent years a new layer has emerged: a growing ecosystem of startups and scale-ups that are not merely building software, but embedding AI into chips, robots, microscopes and energy systems. The region benefits from its proximity to ASML, NXP and Eindhoven University of Technology, yet is increasingly developing its own startup dynamics.

An analysis of companies in the DutchStartup database provides a concrete picture of what is being built in and around Eindhoven in 2026. Twelve of those companies are examined in more detail below. Together they represent tens of millions of euros in raised capital, spread across sectors including deeptech chips, industrial automation, life sciences and sustainable energy.

AI chips and edge computing as a key focus

The most prominent funding figure in the region comes from Axelera AI. Founded in 2021, the company develops energy-efficient chips for computer vision, specifically designed for processing at the edge of the network. In 2025, Axelera received an EU grant of €61.6 million, making it one of the best-funded deeptech companies in the region. This demonstrates that Eindhoven does not only produce software companies, but also companies operating at the intersection of semiconductors and AI, a domain in which the region has historically been strong.

Labelfuse works in a related segment. It offers computer vision without requiring users to write code, targeting applications such as CCTV surveillance, drones and satellite imagery. The company received a grant of €27.6 million in 2021 and has been active since 2019.

Industrial automation and robotics

A second distinct cluster is forming around industrial automation. Sensorfy, founded as far back as 2009 and therefore one of the older names in the database, focuses on predictive maintenance through IoT solutions. The company raised a Series C round of €45 million in 2019, a figure that indicates the market for industrial sensor data has been taken seriously by investors for some time.

Avular and Smart Robotics approach the automation challenge from a different angle. Avular builds autonomous ground and aerial robots for industrial environments and raised a Series A round of €3.5 million in 2024. Smart Robotics, based in nearby Best, supplies robotic systems for palletising and order picking in logistics and manufacturing. This company also closed a Series A in 2024, worth €8.7 million. The fact that both companies completed a comparable round in the same year points to sustained investor interest in practical robotics applications.

VBTI Consultancy from Helmond positions itself as a bridge between AI technology and the industrial and agricultural sectors. In January 2025 it closed a Series B1 Extension of €19 million, suggesting that demand for guidance on AI implementation in traditional sectors is growing.

Life sciences and medical diagnostics

CytoSMART Technologies, active since 2012, builds miniature microscopes that allow researchers to monitor cells in real time in the laboratory. The company is now in a Series B phase and has raised a total of €5.2 million. The combination of hardware and AI-based analysis fits into a broader trend in which laboratory equipment is becoming smarter without needing to become physically larger or more expensive.

InnoSIGN, founded in 2021, works on a different part of the medical chain. The company converts multi-omics data into insights that can help physicians with treatment decisions. Following a Series A of €8 million, it is still at an early stage, but the domain, personalised oncology and diagnostics, is attracting increasing attention from both investors and healthcare partners.

Energy and sustainability

Tibo Energy addresses a pressing issue for energy-intensive companies: grid congestion. Its platform manages energy consumption in a way that smooths out peaks and reduces costs. In January 2025 it raised a Seed round of €6 million. The timing is not coincidental: grid congestion has grown into a concrete obstacle to business expansion in the Netherlands in recent years, which increases demand for solutions of this kind.

AI for e-commerce, compliance and workforce planning

Alongside the hardware and energy companies, Eindhoven is also home to a layer of software companies. Neople, founded in 2023 and therefore one of the youngest names in the database, builds AI agents that handle customer queries for e-commerce teams. The company raised a Seed round of €6 million. Securly focuses on web application security and real-time compliance monitoring and has completed a Series B. Offilancer, active in the field of hybrid workforce planning, rounds out the list as a more organisationally oriented application.

This diversity of software applications shows that Eindhoven is not a monoculture. Alongside heavy industry-related technology, a broader software layer exists, although it is less capital-intensive than the deeptech arm of the ecosystem.

Brainport in the broader European context

What stands out in the overview is the combination of early-stage capital and substantial grants, particularly from European sources. The EU grant to Axelera AI is the most prominent example of this. For policymakers and investors looking at European alternatives to American or Asian AI chip manufacturers, Eindhoven remains a structurally relevant region, in part because the presence of large technology companies and knowledge institutions continues to feed the inflow of talent and collaboration opportunities for startups.

For founders elsewhere in the Netherlands, the region serves as an example of how an industrial heritage can act as a springboard for new technology companies, provided the connection between academic knowledge, corporates and risk capital is sustainable. That connection is more developed in Brainport than in most other Dutch regions, though the scale of individual companies remains modest for the time being compared with the major European deeptech clusters.