Deeploy: Building Transparent AI Solutions for Healthcare and Finance

March 11, 2024

Deeploy: Building Transparent AI Solutions for Healthcare & Finance

Founded in 2020 in Utrecht by Maarten Stolk, Bastiaan van de Rakt, Nick Jetten, and Tim Kleinloog, Deeploy provides a Responsible AI platform tailored for high-risk sectors such as banking and healthcare.

Its platform emphasizes the development of explainable, accountable, and manageable machine learning models, addressing the critical need for transparency in AI applications. With clients like Bunq, Rabobank, and PGGM, Deeploy has quickly become a key player in integrating AI responsibly.

Deeploy’s journey began with the vision to bring clarity to the complex AI landscape, a vision that has guided its growth and development. By 2021, the company secured a €1M funding round, led by venture capital investor Curiosity, and in 2023, Deeploy was named a Deloitte Rising Star, highlighting its position as one of the top innovative and disruptive startups in the Netherlands. We spoke to co-founder Maarten Stolk about the company and its ambitions.

What was the key inspiration behind starting Deeploy?

AI has huge potential, especially in healthcare, in governments, and within the financial industry. However, increasing complexity, growing concerns from society, and regulatory pressure led to only a few high-impact implementations of AI models at places that really matter, like personalized healthcare. There is a big need for software to ensure the safe and transparent use of AI so that we all can benefit from the promise of AI.

What hurdles have you faced and how did you overcome them?

We were early, very early: The market for responsible AI is still very much being shaped, and most organizations struggle to even define who’s responsible for it. For us to overcome this, we decided to work extensively and closely with the leaders in our main industries, like Bunq, to set the standards in the market.

What unique aspect does Deeploy offer versus rivals?

We’re one of the few in this very new market, and the only one that really solves the struggles to keep control of a growing number of AI models being used. We span both the technical infrastructure for explainability and monitoring, as well as features for governance and compliance. Additionally, we anticipate the needs of enterprises by being accessible on major marketplaces (AWS, Azure) and offering integration with other platforms.

What are your key targets in the coming few years?

Europe is ahead in terms of safe and responsible AI, with the AI Act being enforced over the coming 2 years. Our ambition is to be THE platform for responsible, safe, and transparent AI, in order to enable (regulated) industries to use AI in the most valuable applications.

As a leader, which values are at the heart of your decision-making?

Honesty, transparency, responsibility, and intrinsic motivation are core values for us. We hate politics. Everything, from hiring to culture, is resolved around these core values. Furthermore, for us the team is key, nobody is greater than the team and we are all willing to help each other.

What motivated you to join Techleap for Scaleups’ Rise programme?

I strongly believe in the value of the community actively helping each other. It’s therapeutic to share and listen to each other’s challenges and the ways we overcome them, across various topics. We’re happy to have joined!