Belgian Startups Too Cautious on AI, Deloitte Survey Warns

Belgium has built one of Europe’s most dynamic startup ecosystems, boasting eight unicorns including Odoo, Collibra, and Aikido Security. Yet a new analysis from Deloitte’s Scale-Up Confidence Survey 2026 reveals a troubling paradox: the country’s startups and scale-ups are being too cautious when it comes to artificial intelligence, and experts warn they risk falling behind global competitors who are moving faster.

The Warning from Deloitte

The survey, conducted among 498 growth companies across Europe and the Middle East — including 226 Belgian companies — found that while more than half of respondents (53%) cite AI and automation as a technology investment priority, the pace and ambition of adoption remains insufficient. According to La Libre Belgique, Anaïs De Boulle, Scale-Up Leader at Deloitte Belgium, put it bluntly: “The global AI revolution does not reward caution, it rewards speed, ambition, and boldness.”

This warning comes at a time when Belgian tech funding has shown remarkable strength. The sector hit a record €1.4 billion across 125 deals in 2024, with AI startups capturing over 70% of total capital. In 2025, funding reached €772 million across 133 rounds. Yet the Deloitte analysis suggests that despite this capital flow, the broader ecosystem lacks the aggressive, winner-take-all mentality that the AI era demands.

The AI Adoption Paradox

While the headline numbers on AI adoption appear encouraging, a deeper look reveals a more complex picture. The latest Start it @KBC barometer, published on June 25, shows that 67.6% of the accelerator’s newest cohort are building AI solutions — up dramatically from 22.5% in 2024 and 55.7% in 2025. As Forbes Belgique reports, this represents a “decisive shift” in the Belgian startup landscape.

However, the Deloitte survey suggests a gap between adoption and ambition. Belgian companies are integrating AI, but they are not doing so with the speed and audacity needed to create truly global champions. The core tension, according to the research, is between execution discipline — a traditional strength of Belgian companies — and the breakneck pace required for AI leadership.

Winner-Takes-All Dynamics

The concentration of funding among a tiny minority of startups underscores the high-stakes nature of the current environment. Since 2014, Start it @KBC startups have raised over €1.45 billion — but half of that was captured by just 2% of companies, and 90% by 18%. Five companies alone — Keyrock, Aikido Security, Loop Earplugs, Tekst, and Companion Energy — raised €214 million of the €252 million raised in 2026 so far.

This “winner-takes-all” dynamic is amplified by AI, which enables faster scaling but also intensifies competition. Andy Gijbels, CTO of Start it @KBC, told Forbes Belgique: “AI is now so powerful and accessible that more and more founders are choosing to go it alone, because it can largely fulfill the role of a co-founder.” The accelerator has observed a 17% increase in solo founder applications over two years, directly attributed to AI’s capabilities.

A Strong Foundation, But Not Enough

Belgium’s tech ecosystem has real depth. The country now boasts eight unicorns, including Collibra (valued at $5.25 billion), Odoo (€5 billion), Deliverect ($1.4 billion), and Aikido Security ($1 billion) — the fastest European cybersecurity company to reach unicorn status. The “Ghent Mafia” ecosystem, anchored by the Wintercircus innovation campus, has created one of Europe’s densest clusters of product-led SaaS companies.

Yet as The Product Consortium notes in its 2026 ecosystem guide, Belgium’s size is both an advantage and a limitation. While the tight-knit community enables rapid knowledge transfer, it may also foster a risk-averse culture that prioritizes incremental gains over moonshot bets.

What’s at Stake

If Belgian startups and scale-ups fail to accelerate their AI ambitions, they risk being outpaced by more aggressive competitors from the United States, China, and other European tech hubs. The EU AI Act and GDPR create a complex regulatory environment that could either become a competitive moat for compliant Belgian companies or a drag on their ability to move quickly.

There are reasons for optimism. The Start it @KBC accelerator, which has supported over 2,000 startups since 2014, launched a €100 million Start it Fund in December 2025. KBC’s mobile app has been ranked the world’s best three times. And the growing number of AI-native startups in the latest accelerator cohort suggests that the next generation of founders may be bolder than their predecessors.

But as Anaïs De Boulle’s warning makes clear, caution is a luxury the AI revolution cannot afford. For Belgium to maintain its position as one of Europe’s premier tech ecosystems, its startups and scale-ups will need to embrace not just AI technology, but the speed, ambition, and audacity that come with it.