Vienna-based AI startup newsrooms.ai is acquiring Trending Topics, the Austrian tech media platform founded by Jakob Steinschaden and Bastian Kellhofer.
“This merger of AI technology and publishing expertise creates a one-of-a-kind company in Europe, poised to set new standards in content creation and distribution for the AI era,” said Trending Topics.
Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
newsrooms.ai was originally incubated within the media house of Trending Topics and spun off in 2024 with its own developer team and investor Hermann Futter — CEO of Compass Group and investor in KickScale, Jentis, among others.
“Under the leadership of CEO Erek Stoisser, the company has developed market-ready, AI-driven Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for automated content production based on modern large language models (LLMs), tailored for media companies and corporate communications,” said Trending Topics.
“The core technology of newsrooms.ai, spearheaded by CTO Matteo Rosoli, is ‘Generative Engine Optimization’ (GEO) — a new approach to optimizing online content for AI search engines and chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity.
“GEO places a strong focus on linguistic quality, European data processing, and unique editorial style for both media and corporate clients …
“Already, dozens of AI-powered newsrooms are active for high-profile media and corporate test clients. Even prior to the official launch, more than 1,000 articles were being generated each month using the tools.
“The roadmap includes expansion into audio, image, and video content, as well as personalized AI morning briefings and Predictive Communication Intelligence (PCI). The vision is to build an all-in-one platform that supports everything from information sourcing and content production to publishing and analytics.
“Under its new ownership, Trending Topics will continue its successful coverage of the tech industry, with an increasing focus on AI. It will also become one of the first media brands globally to be co-produced with AI at its core.
“Founders Jakob Steinschaden and Bastian Kellhofer will remain on board, hold equity in newsrooms.ai, and play central roles in product development, strategy, and business development.”
Hermann Futter said: “I’m fascinated by the technology behind newsrooms.ai. It offers an impressive glimpse into the future of publishing. That’s my personal reason for believing in the team and investing in the company.”
Bastian Kellhofer, co-founder of newsrooms.ai and Trending Topics, said: “After search engines and social media, AI is the next major disruption of the media world of the 21st century. We want to be at the forefront of this development.”
Co-founder Jakob Steinschaden said: “Generative AI isn’t just a helpful add-on, but the new foundation of digital communication.
“Newsrooms.ai and Trending Topics under one roof is a killer combination. We’re embracing the rapid AI development and anticipating what’s inevitably coming for many other companies.”
Erek Stoisser, CEO of newsrooms.ai, said: “Efficiency can be bought. But great language is priceless. We want to help Europe develop its own artificial intelligence infrastructure that values linguistic diversity as a meaningful cultural asset.
“Our mission is to support technological sovereignty and data security for the continent.”