Interhuman AI, a Copenhagen-based startup developing the first social intelligence layer for AI systems, has raised €2 million in a pre‑seed funding round. The investment was led by PSV Tech, a Nordic VC backing ambitious AI founders, with participation from EIFO (Export and Investment Fund of Denmark), Antler, The Yope Foundation, and prominent angels from Ada Ventures.
Interhuman AI is creating a world where technology truly understands humans, not just our words, but the countless subtle signals beneath the surface.
By combining computer vision, audio analysis, psychology, and behavioural science, the company’s technology decodes raw facial expression, body language, and voice tonality into contextual “social signals.” For example, a smile while leaning forward might indicate engagement, whereas the same smile paired with leaning back could mean something entirely different. Their social awareness module can be integrated into any AI system with just a few lines of code.
- In AI-powered training or coaching, social intelligence brings greater naturalness and personalisation, tailored to each learner’s style and challenges. Digital health tools enable empathetic real-time support.
- In sales training, AI can finally evaluate not only what trainees say, but how they say it, assessing confidence, empathy, and clarity.
- In customer service, AI bots with social awareness could respond adeptly to frustration, hesitation, or tone.
The global AI market is growing rapidly, yet while AI agents are becoming increasingly adept at understanding words, they overlook as much as 93% of non-verbal communication. Around half of the $757 billion global AI market revolves around human–AI interaction, and 40% of those interactions would benefit from AI that can interpret non-verbal social cues.
Paula Petcu, co‑founder of Interhuman AI, comments, “The global AI market is growing fast. However, to realise the full potential of AI solutions, it needs to take into consideration all aspects of human behaviour. AI isn’t just about efficiency and workflow optimisation – it is about human interaction…. Without the solution that we are building, we think that AI developers will continue to struggle to deliver impactful solutions that allow for human‑AI understanding, resulting in failure and disappointment with what AI can do.”
The funding will enable the development of a platform and API providing access to the company’s socially aware AI core models. It will also support scaling the development team with more AI engineers.
Alexander Viterbo‑Horten, Partner at PSV Tech, comments: “We’re only just beginning to see what happens when social intelligence is built into AI. This breakthrough has the potential to transform healthcare, education, and any sector where human‑AI interaction matters. Research already shows that automating behavioural coding with AI makes mental health diagnostics far more reliable, while avoiding the bias that comes with manual coding. Interhuman AI is leading this shift with rare technical depth, scientific rigour, and the ambition to unlock this frontier.”
He adds: “Interhuman AI is exactly the kind of technological breakthrough Europe needs. It shows that European founders can lead in frontier AI, while staying true to the ethical and scientific standards that will define global trust in technology.”
This is the third AI-focused investment from PSV Tech’s Fund II since its launch in May, highlighting the Nordics’ leadership in AI innovation.
Interhuman AI’s founding team brings a blend of AI expertise, startup experience, and academic rigour. CEO Paula Petcu, a rare female technical AI co‑founder in Europe, previously held the CTO role at Brain+. Co‑founder and COO Frederik Sally brings product and operations experience. CSO Line Clemmensen is a professor in AI and machine learning at the Technical University of Denmark and Copenhagen University. The team also benefits from advisory expertise in psychology, UX, business development, and AI.
Michael Wiatr, Partner at Antler, commented: “Interhuman AI is bringing humanity to AI. In a world increasingly dominated by AI, empowering new technologies to understand the wealth of non‑verbal communication that we take for granted will be transformational. Interhuman AI has a world‑class founding team that combines technical expertise with a real passion and determination to make AI more socially aware. We are delighted to have backed them and have every confidence in their future success.”
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/08/copenhagen-based-interhuman-ai-raises-e2-million-to-build-the-social-intelligence-layer-for-ai/
