Sounds like they don’t have a moat at all. It’s like software consultancy with a data centre. And then the article mentions many customers using these models on prem (so data centre is not really a plus).
What’s stopping any country backed startup from fine-tuning small open source models?
Maybe because distilling small models from bigger ones that you control gives you better small models than fine-tuning from bigger models you don't control?
(I am not claiming it is the case, but stating this as an assumption)
No one in Europe will buy from a random startup, the consultancy part is a MUST to do businesses with big corps, banks, finances, insurances, governs, public administration ...