Belgian AI startup Tekst raises €11.5M to automate enterprise process discovery
What's the deal? Ghent-based Tekst has closed an €11.5M Series A led by US venture firm Elephant. Founded in 2022 by Wouter Janssen (chief executive officer) and Tiebe Parmentier (chief technology officer), Tekst reconstructs business processes automatically from the digital trail employees leave behind every day.
The startup aims to solve one of enterprise AI's biggest headaches: companies are pouring money into AI but struggling to make it pay off at scale. Tekst's technology maps out how work actually gets done — not how it's supposed to get done — giving organisations the process clarity they need before deploying automation or AI tools.
Why now? Enterprise AI spending is surging, but returns remain elusive for many large organisations. A core reason is that most companies lack accurate documentation of their own workflows. Without that foundation, AI projects stall or underperform.
Tekst's approach — mining existing digital footprints rather than relying on manual process mapping — arrives at a moment when businesses are under pressure to show ROI on their AI investments. The timing positions the startup to capture demand from enterprises that have bought into the AI promise but hit implementation walls.
What could go wrong? Process mining and discovery is a competitive space. Established players like Celonis and newer entrants are also vying to help enterprises understand their own operations. Tekst will need to demonstrate clear differentiation — and prove its automated approach delivers more accurate, actionable results than alternatives.
There's also the challenge of navigating enterprise data sensitivity. Reconstructing processes from employee activity means accessing potentially sensitive information, which could raise privacy and compliance concerns in regulated industries.
The signal: This raise reflects a broader shift in enterprise AI from flashy demos to foundational infrastructure. Investors are increasingly backing startups that tackle the unglamorous but critical prerequisites for AI deployment — data quality, process understanding, and workflow documentation.
That a US firm led the round for a Belgian startup also underscores continued transatlantic investor appetite for European AI companies solving real enterprise problems. The message: the next wave of AI value may come not from building new models, but from making organisations legible enough for AI to actually work.
Read more: Tech.eu
