Penemue raises €1.7M to scale AI hate speech detection

This article was published on April 3, 2026 The German startup detects online hate, digital violence, and disinformation across 89 languages in real time, and works with public prosecutors and police alongside commercial clients. Investors were not disclosed. Penemue, the Freiburg-based TrustTech startup developing AI to detect and counter online hate speech, digital violence, and disinformation, has raised more than €1.7 million in a new funding round. The investors were not disclosed. The company was founded by Jonas Navid Mehrabanian Al-Nemri, Sara Egetemeyr, and Marlon Lückert. Egetemeyr, who serves as co-founder and managing director, framed the problem in terms that extend beyond individual victims: “It is not just the people affected who are victims, but everyone who reads along the fans, the communities, the next generation.” Penemue’s technology monitors social media comments and direct messages in real time across 89 languages, identifying content that constitutes hate speech, threats, or potentially criminal communication, including coded language, slang, dialects, and emojis. The AI is continuously updated to recognise newly emerging terms and cultural nuances. Users re