Artificial intelligence is entering a new phase. Beyond chatbots, copilots, and task-specific automations, a new generation of systems is emerging—agentic AI. These systems are designed not just to respond to prompts, but to set goals, plan actions, and execute complex workflows across tools and environments, with humans remaining in the loop.
This shift—from assistive AI to autonomous, goal-driven systems—has profound implications for productivity, organizational design, risk management, and Europe’s position in the global AI landscape.
A new analysis developed under the StepUp StartUps project examines how agentic AI is taking shape in Europe, where momentum is building, and what conditions will determine whether this technology translates into long-term value and leadership.
DEEP Ecosystems is proud to be a key partner in the StepUp StartUps project, a European Commission-funded initiative aimed at reshaping Europe’s startup ecosystem. Together with Barrabes, Leibniz IRS, Startup Europe Regions Network (SERN), and EU Startups, DEEP is spearheading a two-year journey to develop data-driven insights, conduct research, and organize events to inform policy transformation.
The primary objective of StepUp StartUps is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the functioning of national and local startup and scaleup ecosystems across the EU-27 and EFTA countries. This knowledge will inform the development of data-driven policy reports on key issues and challenges facing Europe’s startup ecosystem.
What Makes Agentic AI Different
Agentic AI combines large language models with orchestration, memory, and tool use to enable multi-step, adaptive behaviour. Instead of completing isolated tasks, agentic systems decide what needs to be done next, coordinate multiple AI agents, and act across enterprise systems in pursuit of a defined objective.
This enables new operating models across business and public services—from automated customer service and IT operations to supply-chain coordination, healthcare workflows, and administrative processes. At the same time, autonomy introduces new challenges around accountability, transparency, and control, because these systems increasingly act, rather than simply advise.
A Market Scaling at Speed
Agentic AI is no longer confined to experimentation. Market data shows rapid acceleration in deployment and investment.
The graph illustrates the expansion of the AI agents market in Europe, growing from USD 1.32 billion in 2024 to a projected USD 11.49 billion by 2030, at a 44%+ compound annual growth rate. Europe already accounts for nearly one quarter of the global market, signaling that agentic AI is becoming a mainstream enterprise technology rather than a niche innovation.
An Ecosystem Taking Shape—But Unevenly
Europe’s agentic AI ecosystem is maturing, with strong growth in both funding volumes and deal activity. However, this growth is geographically concentrated.
The data highlights a clear Franco–German core:
- France leads in total funding, reflecting later-stage scale-ups
- Germany leads in deal volume, indicating a broad early-stage pipeline
A second tier of hubs—including the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Spain—adds diversity, but the analysis shows that stronger connections between hubs will be essential to move from national success stories to EU-wide scale.
Why This Matters Now
Agentic AI has the potential to significantly boost productivity, improve service quality, and augment human work across sectors. Europe enters this shift with strong assets: deep AI talent, a growing startup ecosystem, and a robust trust-oriented regulatory framework.
Whether these strengths translate into leadership will depend on Europe’s ability to scale agentic AI responsibly—connecting innovation hubs, enabling access to data and compute, and turning governance principles into practical, deployable systems.
The full report explores these dynamics in depth, combining market data, ecosystem analysis, risk frameworks, and policy recommendations to support the next phase of Europe’s AI development.
Explore the full report to dive deeper into Europe’s agentic AI landscape.
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The project is funded by the tender of the European Commission on “European Start-ups 2.0 – Taking Europe’s start-up economy to the next level through data-driven insights, research and events” with number CNECT/2022/OP/0133. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or the Council of Europe. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.