Scavenger AI Raises €2.5M to Help Europe’s SMEs Talk to Their Data
The Frankfurt-based startup is building AI-powered business intelligence that turns every employee into a data analyst – no code required.
Scavenger AI has raised €2.5 million in seed funding to make company data as easy to access as asking a question. The round was led by BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen mbH (BMH), with participation from HTGF, Calm/Storm Ventures, xdeck, and a public innovation grant.
The investment will support product development, European expansion, and the company’s mission to make enterprise-grade analytics accessible to the small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) that form the backbone of Europe’s economy. Scavenger is targeting what it calls the “70% business intelligence gap” – the widespread inability of smaller businesses to turn their data into actionable insights.
Making data speak human
“SMEs don’t need more tools – they need answers,” says Felix Beissel, co-founder of Scavenger AI. Alongside Maximilian Hahnenkamp (Forbes 30 Under 30), Beissel is developing a platform that allows any employee – regardless of technical background – to query company data through natural language.
Across finance, operations, and sales, Scavenger replaces dashboards and spreadsheets with a simple interface where users can ask questions like “How are cost centres trending?” or “Which projects are over budget and why?” and get precise answers in seconds.
“Our goal is simple: any employee should be able to make smart, data-driven decisions without writing a single line of code,” says Hahnenkamp. “We’re building the European counter-model to U.S. tech companies. Europe’s SMEs deserve AI that’s secure, explainable, and built around their needs — not a black box,” adds Beissel.
From Milan prototype to market reality
The idea for Scavenger AI was born in Milan, during the founders’ studies. What began as a student project soon evolved into a prototype that proved a powerful concept: using natural language to unlock the potential of business data.
Their shared corporate experiences later revealed the same pattern – organisations were rich in data but poor in usability. The challenge wasn’t collection, but comprehension. Scavenger AI was built to close that gap by making data analysis conversational and accessible to all.
Founders’ complementary expertise
Scavenger’s founding team blends business, technical, and leadership experience.
- Maximilian Hahnenkamp, based in Vienna, brings a background in business law and management, with operational leadership honed as captain of Austria’s youth national field hockey team. He previously gained business experience through internships at Deloitte and the Financial Times Challenge, and today drives Scavenger’s operations and business development.
- Felix Beissel leads Scavenger’s technology and product development, drawing on a Master’s in Data Science from Bocconi University and professional experience at Deutsche Bahn. He focuses on building the AI-driven algorithms behind Scavenger’s data cleansing and interpretation capabilities.
Together, their complementary skill sets reflect a balance of strategic, operational, and technical excellence – a hallmark of Europe’s new generation of data-driven founders.
Built for Europe’s backbone: the SME
Scavenger is built for the 98% of SMEs that make up the DACH region’s economy. Unlike most U.S. business intelligence platforms, it offers full GDPR compliance, data transparency, and customisable AI models designed specifically for European business needs.
Already used by Telekom, Mann & Schröder, and Wangen Pumpen, Scavenger is showing how even mid-sized companies can access enterprise-level analytics without the need for data teams or expensive software stacks.
“Scavenger enables the efficient use and protection of data, increases productivity and competitiveness, and plays a key role in the digital transformation of European SMEs,” says Sebastian Schnell, Senior Investment Manager at BMH. “It’s a solution with clear scaling potential.”
A €2.45 billion opportunity
The company estimates a €2.45 billion market opportunity for SME-focused business intelligence across Europe. With its new funding, Scavenger plans to expand its team, deepen integrations with ERP and CRM systems, and strengthen its proprietary semantic layer – the core technology that translates company data into natural, human-understandable language.
“When data becomes a conversation instead of a report, you remove barriers between people and insight,” says Beissel. “That’s how you build smarter, more connected organisations.”
This new round follows Scavenger AI’s earlier €1.1M pre-seed funding, which helped the startup validate its technology and expand its early customer base. Read the previous coverage on StartupReporter.eu →
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