The recent ban on non-US citizens accessing Anthropic’s most advanced artificial intelligence models has dramatically highlighted Europe’s dependence in the field of artificial intelligence; as such, the Viennese start-up Eustella, which we met at ViennaUp 2026, is proposing a solution. With the launch of the Eustella app for smartphones (iPhone, Android) and the web, the company aims to set the standard for a new era of artificial intelligence: the era of sovereign European AI.
In this way, Eustella covers the full range of applications, from internet searches and travel planning to news, image generation and the creation of presentations. Users can also create their own agents, set up projects, and chat and collaborate in groups. Thanks to the ‘Memory’ function, Eustella can store all preferences, interests and content.
Digital sovereignty is the challenge facing Europe in 2026. Due to the US Cloud Act, control over European data remains in the hands of the United States, even if the servers are located in Europe. “We are not waiting for Europe to become digitally independent. Eustella makes this possible today,” says Matteo Rosoli, CEO of Eustella (first on the left in the photo with the team), in a statement. “Anyone using AI today is mostly relying on black-box systems under foreign control. Eustella breaks this pattern: data sovereignty and technological control remain 100 per cent in Europe.”
To offer Europeans an attractive alternative to US-based services, Eustella is focusing on affordable prices starting at €5.99 per month – significantly cheaper and better value than OpenAI, which starts at €7.99 per month, and Anthropic, which starts at €20 per month.
Eustella is based on open-weight and open-source models, thereby retaining full technological control. Eustella manages its artificial intelligence models in-house and exclusively on European infrastructure: Gemma 4 (Google), Qwen 3.5/3.7 (Alibaba), gpt-oss-120b (OpenAI) and Mistral (Mistral AI), as well as Flux (Black Forest Labs) for image generation. No data is transferred to the model developers or to the United States, as the entire infrastructure supply chain consists exclusively of European companies. All processing remains 100% within the EU, and user data is never used to train artificial intelligence models.
Eustella is hosted on Ionos Cloud servers in Berlin, Frankfurt and other European cities, thereby forming the basis for a European infrastructure and supply chain. Ionos Cloud is a sovereign European provider of cloud infrastructure for businesses of all sizes and for the public sector. Headquartered in Germany, Ionos Cloud operates all its services under German jurisdiction.
Eustella is at the heart of a new European digital ecosystem thanks to the integration of partners operating in the data sector, such as Bitpanda (fintech) and Geizhals (e-commerce); Eustella is evolving from a simple chatbot into an interactive, action-oriented agent. If users ask, for example, for information on cryptocurrencies or electronic products, this is displayed to them via data interfaces from Bitpanda or Geizhals. Further integrations in the travel, maps, navigation, shopping, education and lifestyle sectors will follow in the coming weeks and months.
“Artificial intelligence-powered agents will change the way people use digital services. In the financial sector, it is particularly important that responses are based on up-to-date and reliable data. Thanks to Bitpanda as a data source, users can view cryptocurrency prices in real time via Eustella. “For us, this represents a concrete example of how artificial intelligence products and European financial infrastructure can work together effectively,” says Christian Trummer, chief scientist and co-founder of Bitpanda.
When searching for products, eustella accesses the comprehensive, impartial price and product database of the Geizhals price comparison site directly. Users thus receive independent and transparent purchasing advice, updated in real time.
“With Eustella, we see the emergence of an artificial intelligence agent that not only offers advice but also acts on behalf of its users: and this is precisely where the integration of Geizhals proves its worth. Our price and product database, developed over many years, transforms every recommendation into a well-founded and comprehensible decision. “This partnership marks the starting point for our expansion into Agentic Commerce,” says Markus Nigl, CEO of Geizhals, a price comparison service in the German-speaking world.
The public sector, too, regards sovereign European artificial intelligence solutions as a strategic asset for the region. “With Eustella, it becomes clear that digital sovereignty in Europe is not just a buzzword, but is becoming a reality. A European alternative to AI, based entirely on European infrastructure and open models, is the way forward,” says Alexander Pröll, Austrian State Secretary for Digitalisation. “Digital sovereignty does not mean isolation, but the ability to act: Europe must be able to decide for itself which technologies to work with, how to protect data and how to shape innovation independently, securely and in line with our values. “Because data, the cloud and artificial intelligence are the resources of this century, and Europe must remain capable of acting autonomously with these key technologies.”
Eustella’s trial phase has already shown tremendous momentum: with nearly five thousand users, the AI agent is now fully operational. There are over 130 million AI users in Europe, but most have so far relied on US-based solutions. However, two-thirds of Europeans would prefer European offerings and now have that option.
“The market isn’t waiting for tomorrow’s perfect solution; it needs a comprehensive solution today,” adds Rosoli. “With Eustella, data protection is now available to anyone who no longer wants to compromise.”
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