The largest west AI labs are taking a break from sniping each other to partner in a new accelerator program for European startups that build applications on top of their models. Paris-based incubator Station F will run the program, named F/ai.

On Tuesday, Station F announced that they were partnering Meta, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, OpenAI and Mistral, which it says marks the first time that all companies have joined an accelerator. Other partners include cloud and semiconductor companies AWS, AMD, Qualcomm, and OVH Cloud.

An accelerator is effectively a crash course for early-stage startups, where founders attend classes and lectures, consult with specialists, and receive introductions to potential investors and customers. The broad objective is to help startups bring ideas to market as quickly as possible.

The 20 startups in each F/ai cohort will go through a curriculum aimed specifically at helping European AI startups generate income earlier in their lifecycle, in turn making it easier to secure the funding needed to expand into the largest global market. “We are focusing on rapid commercialization,” said Roxanne Varza, director of Station F, in an interview with WIRED. “Investors are starting to feel like, ‘European companies are good, but they’re not hitting the $1 million revenue mark enough.'”

The accelerator runs for three months, twice a year. The first edition started on January 13. Station F did not reveal which startups made up the group, but many were recommended by Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Lightspeed, or one of the other VC firms involved in the program. The startups are all building AI applications on top of foundational models developed in partner labs, in areas from agent AI to procurement and finance.

Instead of direct funding, participating founders will receive more than $1 million in credits that can be exchanged for access to AI models, computing, and other services from partner companies.

With few exceptions, European companies have until now lagging behind their American and Chinese counterparts at each stage of the AI ​​production line. To try to close the gap, the UK and EU governments has thrown hundreds of millions of dollars into trying to support local AI companies, and develop the domestic data center and power infrastructure needed to train and operate AI models and applications.

In the US, tech accelerators like Y Combinator have produced household names, including Airbnb, Stripe, DoorDash, and Reddit. OpenAI itself was founded in 2015 with the help of funds from Y Combinator’s former research division. Station F aims for F/ai to have the same impact in Europe, making domestic AI startups competitive on the international stage. “It’s for European founders with global ambitions,” Varza said.

The program also represents an opportunity for US-based AI labs to sow more seeds in Europe, using subsidies to encourage a new generation of startups to build on top of their technologies.

When a developer starts building on top of a particular model, it is rarely straightforward to switch to an alternative, says Marta Vinaixa, partner and CEO of VC firm Ryde Ventures. “When you’re building on top of these systems, you’re also building on how those systems behave — their diversity,” he said. “Once you start with one foundation, at least for the same project, you don’t change to another.”

The earlier in a company’s life cycle it begins to develop over a particular model, says Vinaixa, the more the impact is amplified. “The earlier you start, the more you accumulate, the harder it is,” he said.