Arlequin AI Raises €28 Million to Accelerate a New AI Architecture Based on Topological Neural Networks

Arlequin AI, an AI native platform for critical decision-making and action, led by Hugo Micheron and Antoine Jardin, raised €28 million in Series A funding to accelerate the development of a new AI architecture based on topological neural networks (TNN*) and expand the international deployment of its technology. The round is backed exclusively by European investors and co-led by redalpine and OTB Ventures, alongside Bpifrance’s Defence Innovation Fund. Existing investors Vsquared Ventures and 10x Founders are increasing their stakes, and Xavier Niel and ZEBOX (CMA CGM's start-up accelerator) are joining the round. As the company grows, Arlequin’s technology is already being used by governments and large organizations across Western and Eastern Europe.

Technology.

Founded in Paris in 2024 by Hugo Micheron, PhD, a jihadism and geopolitical instability specialist, and former CNRS research engineer Antoine Jardin, Arlequin develops AI for high-stakes decision-making from large, fragmented datasets.

Its platform analyses relationships across documents, transactions, video and operational data. The new funding will accelerate development of proprietary models based on topological neural networks, designed to learn from the structure and relationships within complex datasets and capture multi-way interactions at scale.

Unlike large language models focused primarily on language and content generation, Arlequin is building AI designed to understand the underlying structures and dynamics connecting millions of data points.

Today, another revolution is taking shape: the development of new AI systems capable of understanding highly complex dynamics hidden within millions of data points. At a time when we are overwhelmed by information, we need to regain control. If AI and algorithms can be used for destructive purposes, we also need algorithms that provide greater transparency and give us greater control over the environment in which we now operate. At a time when Europe’s technological independence is more important than ever, this funding gives us the means to pursue this European ambition.

Hugo Micheron, CEO and co-founder of Arlequin AI

A New Architecture for Complex Intelligence.

Topological neural networks (TNNs) learn not just from individual data points, but from the relationships connecting multiple elements. Arlequin is developing this architecture to analyse large, complex systems while keeping results traceable to their underlying evidence.

In counterterrorism investigations, for example, the platform can analyse millions of data points across seized devices to uncover connections between people, locations, communications and events. TNNs are designed to extend this capability to increasingly complex relationships and dynamics.

The approach can also be applied to defence and security, criminal investigations, fraud and money laundering, information integrity, cybersecurity, and AI safety, areas where predictions alone are insufficient and the evidence behind each result matters.

We believe the next advances in AI will come from fundamentally different architectures, not simply from making models larger and feeding them more data and energy. LLMs have transformed language and content generation, while world models have extraordinary potential for physical AI. With Arlequin’s topological neural networks, we are opening a new field of artificial intelligence for problems that existing architectures are not designed to solve efficiently.

Antoine Jardin, CTO and co-founder of Arlequin AI

Lower Compute Requirements.

Arlequin is designing its TNN architecture to require significantly less compute, reducing reliance on energy-intensive infrastructure, advanced semiconductors, and large-scale computing resources.

Development is supported by research collaborations with INRIA, CNRS and the Max Planck Institute, as well as the Universities of Oxford, Cornell, Princeton and UC Santa Barbara.

A Different Path for European AI.

Arlequin aims to help Europe compete in AI by developing new architectures rather than simply replicating existing technologies. Its platform is already deployed with governments and large organisations across Western and Eastern Europe.

The new funding will support expansion of the international AI team, accelerate commercial deployment in Europe and globally, and fund the company’s planned AI lab in Silicon Valley. Arlequin has already opened offices in London and Berlin.

From day one, Hugo and Antoine impressed us with their exceptional founder-market fit, deep technical edge, and relentless drive to solve a critical problem. Arlequin is building a truly differentiated, fully productized sovereign tech platform for safety and security in Europe and beyond, and we are convinced this exceptional team has what it takes to build a category-defining company in a market worth trillions.

Oliver Pabst, General Partner at redalpine

AI sovereignty is not only about where models are built or data is hosted. It is about having control over the technologies that increasingly underpin our most critical decisions. Europe needs AI systems it can own, understand, and trust. Arlequin is building a fundamentally different paradigm of AI, designed to uncover relationships in complex data without predefined ontologies, bias, or hallucination, while keeping results traceable and verifiable. This is critical not only for governments, but also for enterprises where reliability is non-negotiable. We are proud to co-lead this round and excited to back Hugo, Antoine, and the Arlequin team as they enter their next phase of growth.

Jeremy Teboul, OTB Ventures

Most of the capital in AI right now is chasing the same architecture and hoping scale solves everything. Arlequin is pursuing a genuinely different architecture: developing topological neural networks as a distinct architectural approach, rather than relying solely on larger models and more compute. What sets the company apart is that this research is the direct engine for a product that is already being used by governments and enterprises, a combination of fundamental science and commercial traction that remains rare in Europe.

Maria Portoles, Investment Partner at Vsquared

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