Start it @KBC barometer: 67.6% of Belgian startups now build with AI as power law reshapes European funding

In 2024, 22.5% of startups joining Start it @KBC were building AI solutions. In 2025, it was 55.7%. In 2026, the number has reached 67.6%. In two years, AI has gone from niche to default in Europe’s largest startup accelerator — and the data released in the programme’s second annual barometer suggests the shift is reshaping not just what Belgian startups build, but how the entire funding landscape works.

Start it @KBC has supported more than 2,000 startups since 2014, over 1,700 of them in Belgium. It is Europe’s largest equity-free accelerator and the fifth largest globally. Its alumni include some of Belgium’s most prominent tech companies: Aikido Security (Belgium’s seventh unicorn and Scale-up of the Year 2025), Keyrock, Loop Earplugs, Bolt, Conveo, Segments.ai, and Crazy Games.

AI makes the co-founder optional

Beyond the headline AI adoption number, the barometer reveals a structural shift in how startups are being founded. Start it @KBC has seen a 17% increase in solo founders applying for the programme over the last two years. The explanation, according to CTO Andy Gijbels, is straightforward: AI can now fulfil many of the functions that previously required a technical co-founder.

“AI is now so powerful and accessible that more and more founders are choosing to build a business on their own, because AI can largely fulfil the co-founder role. Whilst in the past a lack of technical knowledge used to prevent many founders from taking the jump, today in many cases this is no longer a barrier.”

— Andy Gijbels, CTO, Start it @KBC

The implication is significant: the traditional barrier to starting a software company — needing a technical co-founder — is dissolving. AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and Codex are enabling non-technical founders to build functional products independently. This is exactly what Avrea and Holmes are building infrastructure for — the next layer of tooling that serves this new generation of AI-native builders.

The power law intensifies: 2% raise 50%

The funding data tells a story that will be familiar to anyone who follows European venture capital — but the numbers are sharper than ever. Since 2014, the startups in Start it @KBC’s programme have raised over €1.45 billion in capital. Of that total, 50% was raised by just 2% of the companies, 90% by 18%, and 99% by 46%.

In 2026, the concentration is even more pronounced. Start it alumni have already raised €252 million this year — compared to €190 million in the entirety of 2025. But €214 million — 85% — came from just five companies: Keyrock, Aikido Security, Loop Earplugs, Tekst (whose €11.5 million Series A from Elephant VC we covered earlier this year), and Companion Energy.

“When start-ups fail today, it is usually not because they are solving a non-existent problem, as was often the case in the past, but rather because, thanks to AI, there is much more competition from other start-ups working on the same problem. Now more than ever before, this creates a ‘winner-takes-all’ effect.”

— Lode Uytterschaut, Founder & CEO, Start it @KBC

The insight is important: AI has not just changed what startups build — it has changed why they fail. The bottleneck has shifted from “does a problem exist?” to “can you outpace everyone else solving the same problem?” Speed, not novelty, is now the decisive factor.

The €100M Start it Fund: from equity-free to investment partner

In December 2025, KBC Group announced a €100 million investment in the Start it ecosystem, launching the Start it Fund — a new early-stage vehicle that fundamentally changes the accelerator’s relationship with its startups. The programme remains equity-free at entry (a principle Start it @KBC has maintained since 2014), but the top 1% of startups now have the option of accepting investment at the end of their programme journey.

The fund invests an average of €300,000 at early stage, with the possibility of follow-on financing of up to €5 million through KBC Securities. The first investment has already been made: Kasqade, whose founder joined as a solo entrepreneur in October, found a co-founder a month later, and within eight months had secured funding, hired two employees, and landed its first two clients — all from within the Start it network.

The survival rate that matters

One data point from the broader Start it @KBC programme stands out above the funding numbers. After five years, 73% of Start it startups are still in business — compared to an international benchmark of 51% for venture-backed startups. The 22-percentage-point gap is significant and suggests that the equity-free, founder-centric model produces more durable companies than the traditional VC-backed path.

Whether that durability translates into outsized returns at the top end is the open question. The power law data suggests it does — at least for the 2% that break through. For the other 98%, the programme offers something arguably more valuable than funding: a structured environment where the odds of survival are meaningfully higher than the industry baseline.

“Managing serendipity”

Start it @KBC’s founder Lode Uytterschaut uses an unusual phrase to describe what the accelerator actually does at its best: “managing serendipity.” The idea is that in a startup’s journey, luck — meeting the right co-founder, the right mentor, the right investor at the right moment — plays an irreducible role. An accelerator with 2,000+ alumni, 9 Belgian hubs (Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Hasselt, Kortrijk, Leuven, Charleroi, Louvain-la-Neuve, and Liège), and international presence in Prague and Budapest can systematically increase those encounters.

The Kasqade example is the proof case: a solo founder who found a co-founder, a fund investment, and first clients entirely through the Start it network within eight months. That is managed serendipity in action.

For a Belgian ecosystem that has produced a seventh unicorn in Aikido Security, saw its startups claim 12 of 21 prizes at the most recent Belgium Startup Awards, and is now approaching €1.5 billion in cumulative alumni funding, the trajectory is clear. Belgium’s startup ecosystem is no longer “promising” — it is producing, and Start it @KBC’s barometer is the clearest measure of how fast.