Almawave
Almawave is an Italian AI company developing the AIWave cognitive platform and Velvet multilingual large language models for enterprise and public sector clients across government, finance, healthcare, tourism, energy, and telco verticals in Europe.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2008
- HeadquartersRoma, Italy
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Almawave does
Almawave is an Italian artificial intelligence and Big Data company headquartered in Rome, specializing in natural language processing, generative AI, speech analytics, and semantic data management for enterprise and public sector clients. Founded in 2008, Almawave was publicly traded on Euronext Growth Milan until parent company Almaviva S.p.A. completed a voluntary takeover bid in December 2025, acquiring 97.91% of shares and delisting the company at €4.30 per share (total consideration approximately €21.47 million; implied enterprise value around €129 million).
The company's core technology is the AIWave cognitive platform, which combines Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), multi-agent orchestration, knowledge graphs, and natural language querying. Its flagship AI asset is the Velvet family of open-source multilingual large language models (14B and 2B parameter variants totaling 25B parameters), developed in-house on the Leonardo supercomputer managed by Cineca and optimized for all 24 official EU languages, with Velvet Speech 2B extending the model line into multimodal voice interactions. The platform is certified to ISO/IEC 42001 for responsible AI management and supports cloud, on-premises, and edge deployments, with strategic integrations into IBM watsonx (BYOM) and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (default LLM).
Almawave operates a vertical-focused B2B enterprise model, generating revenue through subscription/platform licensing of AIWave and Velvet, AI and Big Data services, and professional services. It targets Italian and European central government, finance and banking, healthcare, tourism, municipalities, energy and utilities, infrastructure and transportation, and telco/media segments. Distribution combines direct enterprise sales with channel partnerships through IBM and Oracle; wholly-owned subsidiaries include The Data Appeal Company and Mabrian (tourism intelligence), Sistemi Territoriali (location intelligence), and OBDA Systems (semantic data). H1 2025 revenue was €22.8 million with a €62.5 million backlog at end-2024 and 26.6% of revenue invested in AI development.
Almawave firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Almawave
- Legal name
- Almawave S.r.l.
- Website
- https://almawave.it
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2008
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- Almawave is an Italian AI company developing the AIWave cognitive platform and Velvet multilingual large language models for enterprise and public sector clients across government, finance, healthcare, tourism, energy, and telco verticals in Europe.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Almawave industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Enterprise AI Software Platforms
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI) (HDAEANAI), AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ), Augmented Analytics & AI-Assisted BI (NLQ/NLG, Insights) (HDAEAMAD)
Keywords
Where Almawave is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Roma
- HQ country
- Italy
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Almawave business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- AI and Big Data Services: Core business providing AI, natural language analysis, and data analytics services to enterprise and government clients. Revenue generated through project-based engagements and platform deployments.
- Platform Licensing: Licensing of AIWave platform and Velvet AI models to enterprise customers. Includes SaaS deployment options and on-premises installations for regulated sectors.
- Professional Services: Implementation, consulting, and customization services for AI deployments targeting Italian enterprises and public administration organizations.
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Almawave product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Almawave develops and licenses proprietary AI software products, including the Velvet family of multilingual large language models and the AIWave cognitive platform, to enable enterprise and public sector customers to deploy generative AI, conversational AI, speech analytics, and natural language processing solutions. Its offerings are delivered as cloud, on-premises, and edge-deployable software with supporting professional services, and include vertical solutions for government, finance, healthcare, tourism, energy/utilities, transportation, and telco/media customers.
Product overview
Almawave is an Italian AI company that operates as a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core product is AIWave, a cognitive platform for AI adoption that incorporates the Velvet family of multilingual generative AI models (including Velvet 14B, Velvet 2B, and Velvet Speech 2B). The platform offers specialized modules across AIWave Cognitive Services (Omnichannel Exchange, Conversation, Speech & Voice, Discovery, Comprehension), AIWave AI Applications (Case Automation, Conversation Studio, Discovery Experience, Interaction Analytics), and Group Platforms (DataPortal.AI, D/AI Destinations, SWMS, SGMS). The portfolio also includes complementary brands like The Data Appeal Company and Mabrian for tourism analytics, and Sistemi Territoriali for location intelligence. The company targets multiple verticals including Central Government, Finance & Banking, Healthcare, Tourism, Municipality, Energy & Utilities, Infrastructure & Transportation, and Telco & Media.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- AIWave: Cognitive platform for AI adoption combining retrieval augmented generation, language models, and information retrieval
- Velvet
- Velvet Speech 2B
- DataPortal.AI
- D/AI Destinations
- Discovery Experience
- Interaction Analytics
- Omnichannel Exchange
- Conversation
- Speech & Voice
- Comprehension
- SWMS
- SGMS (Smart Gas Management System)
- RAG
- NLQ
- Trusted Knowledge
- Case Automation
Products and services
- Velvet (Family of Multilingual Large Language Models) Family of open-source multilingual and multimodal large language models (14B and 2B parameter variants, with Velvet 25B-class capacity) optimized for all 24 official EU languages, designed for sustainability, energy efficiency, and ease of use in enterprise and public sector deployments.
- Velvet Speech 2B Multimodal AI model supporting voice-based interactions in professional environments, enabling voice recognition, spoken queries, and emotion analysis in Italian and English within a compact architecture designed for sensitive and on-premises deployments.
- AIWave Cognitive Platform Multimodal and multi-agent cognitive AI platform for enterprise AI adoption, combining Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), language models, and information retrieval to deliver natural language querying, semantic understanding, and multimodal data integration across cloud, on-premises, and edge environments.
- DataPortal.AI Platform that simplifies access, analysis, and publication of data for organizations, enabling data-driven decision-making across enterprise users.
- D/AI Destinations Destination management platform for sustainable and innovative tourism destinations, integrating generative AI to process millions of textual data points from visitor feedback and deliver personalized insights and real-time strategic recommendations to Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) worldwide.
- Smart Gas Management System (SGMS) Enterprise platform using data, AI, and digital models to optimize gas distribution networks, integrating operational data, creating digital twins, and providing predictive analysis to improve safety and efficiency.
- Smart Water Management System (SWMS) Platform for integrated water service management, applying data and AI to support utility operators in managing the integrated water service.
- Discovery Experience SaaS platform that simplifies knowledge searching and exploration through advanced AI features including semantic understanding and multimodal data integration, allowing users to retrieve, filter, and organize relevant information efficiently.
- Interaction Analytics AI application that enhances customer service management through detailed analysis of multichannel interactions, using proprietary speech-to-text and natural language understanding technologies, and providing real-time dashboards, sentiment analysis, and insights for contact center optimization.
Quantifiable outcome
- 40% increase in strategic investments in H1 2025 focused on generative AI, multilingualism, and digital sustainability
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Almawave
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments8 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Almawave technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability17 records
Feature9 records
Almawave partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, flagship, core and minor.
- IBM (D/AI Destinations)strategicIBM and Almawave jointly announced technology agreement promoting AI and data governance adoption among Italian enterprises, involving AI, knowledge graphs, location intelligence, and data analytics for enhanced decision-making.
- IBMflagshipTechnology collaboration integrating Almawave's Velvet generative AI models with IBM watsonx platform. The Bring-Your-Own-Model integration enables Italian enterprises to deploy and utilize Velvet through IBM's validated BYOM support, combining linguistic capabilities with IBM's security and scalability for EU-compliant AI solutions.
- NVIDIA (via Oracle)coreAlmawave leverages NVIDIA GPU infrastructure through Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for developing multilingual AI models including Velvet. Oracle expanded collaboration with NVIDIA providing customers streamlined AI development and deployment capabilities.
- Tourism Destination Management Organizations (DMOs)coreThe Data Appeal Company, a subsidiary of Almawave, provides D/AI Destinations platform with generative AI capabilities to tourism destination management organizations worldwide, making it the first solution to offer personalized insights and real-time strategic recommendations for destination management.
- OracleflagshipStrategic collaboration signed via MoU at Oracle CloudWorld Tour in Milan to develop and provide AI services based on Velvet multilingual generative AI models on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Joint go-to-market plan targeting clients in Italy, the Iberian region, and France, with Velvet hosted on OCI Supercluster infrastructure.
- World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)strategicMabrian and The Data Appeal Company (Almawave Group subsidiaries) signed strategic partnership with WTTC as Knowledge Partner, providing WTTC access to travel intelligence databases covering air connectivity, traveler sentiment, demand profiling, accommodation supply, and event impact analysis.
- SnamminorPartnership with Snam to develop Italian industrial supercomputer capabilities, expanding Almawave's high-performance computing infrastructure.
- VisastrategicAlmawave and The Data Appeal Company partnership with Visa for the tourism industry, combining AI-powered tourism analytics with Visa's payment and commerce infrastructure.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Almawave competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- ABBYY: Document AI and intelligent automation vendor serving enterprise content processing needs. Comparable on NLP-driven document analysis for regulated industries and government.
- OpenAI: Foundation model provider whose enterprise offerings compete with Velvet for generative AI workloads. Broader incumbent shaping enterprise expectations on LLM capabilities and pricing.
- DataRobot: Established enterprise AI platform offering MLOps and model lifecycle management to large organizations. Broader horizontal AI platform competitor targeting similar enterprise AI deployment use cases.
- C3.ai: Enterprise AI application platform serving large industrial, energy, and government organizations. Comparable on vertical AI applications for regulated industries but operates at significantly larger scale.
Direct peers
- Expert.ai: Italian-based enterprise NLP and natural language understanding platform serving similar regulated industries with language AI. Closest direct competitor given shared Italian roots, focus on document understanding, and European enterprise/government customer base.
- Mistral AI: European foundation model developer offering multilingual LLMs with emphasis on data sovereignty and European regulatory compliance. Direct competitor in the EU sovereign AI category with overlapping enterprise positioning.
- Aleph Alpha: German foundation model company focused on European sovereign AI for regulated industries and government clients. Direct competitor in EU-compliant, multilingual enterprise LLM deployments.
- Translated: Italian AI translation and language services company with proprietary language models. Comparable on multilingual AI development rooted in Italy and serving enterprise customers with language-intensive workloads.
Emerging players
- Indico Data: Unstructured document and text AI platform for enterprise workflows including insurance and financial services. Comparable on document understanding and NLP capabilities for regulated industry use cases.
- H2O.ai: Enterprise AI platform offering open-source LLMs and AutoML capabilities. Comparable on providing enterprise-grade generative and predictive AI with open model positioning.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Almawave social profiles
Digital presenceAlmawave compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Almawave financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Almawave leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Almawave subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Almawave funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Almawave M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Almawave
What does Almawave do?
Almawave develops and licenses proprietary AI software products, including the Velvet family of multilingual large language models and the AIWave cognitive platform, to enable enterprise and public sector customers to deploy generative AI, conversational AI, speech analytics, and natural language processing solutions. Its offerings are delivered as cloud, on-premises, and edge-deployable software with supporting professional services, and include vertical solutions for government, finance, healthcare, tourism, energy/utilities, transportation, and telco/media customers.
Is Almawave a public or private company?
Almawave is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Almawave founded?
Almawave was founded in 2008. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Almawave based?
Almawave is headquartered in Roma, Italy, in the Europe region.
How does Almawave make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. AI and Big Data Services are the primary driver. The others are platform Licensing and professional Services.
Who are Almawave's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are ABBYY, OpenAI, DataRobot and C3.ai. Direct peers are Expert.ai, Mistral AI, Aleph Alpha and Translated. Emerging players are Indico Data and H2O.ai.
Does Almawave have an API?
Yes. Velvet generative AI models are integrated with IBM watsonx platform via Bring-Your-Own-Model (BYOM) support, enabling Italian enterprises to deploy and utilize Velvet through IBM's validated BYOM integration. The integration enables access to generative AI capabilities through IBM's enterprise infrastructure.
What industry is Almawave in?
Almawave's product category is Enterprise AI Software Platforms. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEANAA, End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management), with a secondary code of HDAEANAI, AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI). Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.