Black Forest Labs, the visual AI startup behind the Flux image models, has quietly become one of Europe’s most valuable AI companies.
That would be notable for any 18-month-old company. It’s more striking in a world where nearly 80% of last year’s roughly $270 billion in AI venture dollars went to North America, and 60% went to AI companies based in the Bay Area. Europe captures just 13.6%. In other words: The center of gravity for AI money is still the U.S.—and yet one of the most important visual‑AI companies is being built in Germany.
