Aiva Technologies was chosen by a distinguished jury at the Pitch Your Start-up event in Luxembourg as the winner of the €50,000 first prize offered by Docler Holding. The Artificial Intelligence platform capable of producing beautiful music was created by CEO, Pierre Barreau. Along with his brother COO, Vincent Barreau and a small team including CMO, Arnaud Decker they are well on their way to becoming global innovative stars. Here they speak briefly about their road to success.
AIVA is an Artificial Intelligence capable of composing symphonic music on its own. The machine is learning from 17,000 (items of) classical sheet music in the public domain as a source of inspiration. Upon the client’s request, it is possible to set parameters to determine what kind of music AIVA will produce for them.
At one of the most exciting events in Luxembourg in April 2017, the Pitch Your Start-up competition powered by Docler Holding and supported by Luxinnovation, Aiva was declared the winner. Out of a total of 160 applications from 25 different countries, 18 ICT start-up finalists were selected based on the criteria of innovation, uniqueness, creativity and growth potential. They competed for prizes equivalent to a total amount of €100,000.
Fit4Start programme
“After presenting our project to the Ministry of Finance,” says Arnaud Decker, “we were invited to contact the Luxinnovation team. When we discussed our idea with Antoine Hron, Head of Start-up Support, he encouraged us to apply for the Fit4Start programme and it was a good opportunity for us. The network opened many doors, it was a very motivating start-up environment and the coaching sessions really challenged us.”
Vincent Barreau continues, “Since we are musicians coming from a world of artists, the programme taught us a lot. We got to know Luxembourg’s start-up scene and its opportunities. More precisely, we learned how to target the right groups, how to communicate effectively and how to use the lean start-up methodology to prepare the launch of our product on the market.”