AI duo net £280m windfall as their firm is snapped up by the Germans

The founders of a London-based technology company could see a windfall of around £280 million after it was bought by the Germans.

Entrepreneurs Karim Beguir and Zohra Slim founded the artificial intelligence (AI) company InstaDeep in Tunisia in 2014.

The company was sold to German vaccine maker BioNTech for £562 million. It’s unclear how much Beguir and Slim still own, with a spokesperson simply saying that each is less than 25 percent of the company.

But that could individually get them up to £140m from the sale.

Chief executive Beguir, an engineer born in France but living in London, said he was “very excited to join forces and become one team with BioNTech.”

InstaDeep provides AI-driven decision-making systems for businesses, including everything from helping shipping companies work out transportation routes to determining the best technology to fight cancer.

In addition to the company’s headquarters in London, it has offices in Paris, Tunis, Lagos, Dubai and Cape Town, employing 240 people.

The acquisition of yet another UK-based tech company also marks BioNTech’s biggest deal to date after its own Covid windfall.

The pharmaceutical giant said it agreed to pay £362 million in cash and cash equivalents, as well as a further £200 million based on InstaDeep’s future performance.