Choosing a startup name is difficult. It needs to be memorable, available as a domain and sufficiently distinctive to survive an investor’s overflowing inbox – so its no surprise to see references to famous fiction such as Dune, Start Wars and even The Matrix. The obvious and most famous example
David Cendon Garcia
Choosing a startup name is difficult. It needs to be memorable, available as a domain and sufficiently distinctive to survive an investor’s overflowing inbox – so its no surprise to see references to famous fiction such as Dune, Start Wars and even The Matrix.
The obvious and most famous example is Palantir, named after the all-seeing stones in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings – an interesting choice for a company built around making sense of vast amounts of data.
We at EU-Startups, have seen an increasing startup landscape populated by gods, guardians, legendary weapons, digital worlds, and at least one desert planet crawling with enormous sandworms.
Here are 10 European startups whose names have escaped from fiction, folklore and mythology – in alphabetical order.
Ariadne Maps (Garching, Germany) – Greek Mythology
Founded in 2019 by Georgios Pipelidis and Nikos Tsiamitros, Ariadne Maps develops location analytics technology for indoor and outdoor spaces.
Based in Garching, near Munich, the startup helps retailers, transport operators and venue managers understand how visitors move through physical environments without requiring dedicated apps or tracking hardware to be installed on users’ phones.
Its name is directly inspired by Ariadne from Greek mythology. After Theseus entered the labyrinth to kill the Minotaur, Ariadne gave him a thread that allowed him to retrace his route and escape rather than wandering indefinitely through the maze. The company has described its own location intelligence as a comparable guiding thread through complex physical spaces.
It may be one of the neatest examples in this list: a mapping company named after the woman who solved antiquity’s most notorious navigation problem.
Arondite (London, UK) – King Arthur
Founded in 2023, Arondite is building software and AI systems for defence and national security organisations. The London-based startup raised more than €10.5 million in Seed funding in May 2025, following an earlier €1.9 million pre-Seed investment involving Concept Ventures and Creator Fund.
Its co-founder and CEO, Will Blyth, previously served in the British Army and worked at Palantir and Helsing, while co-founder and CTO Rob Underhill brought experience from BAE Systems and cybersecurity company Garrison.
Arondite has not publicly confirmed a medieval naming story, but its spelling is extremely close to Arondight, the sword traditionally associated with Sir Lancelot. The weapon is better known from later Arthurian tradition and modern popular culture.
A legendary sword belonging to one of the Knights of the Round Table is an almost suspiciously appropriate reference for a DefenceTech startup.
Arrakis (London, UK) – Dune
Arrakis is emerging from stealth after raising €33 million in just over three months. The company was founded by former Accel investor Rafael Quintanilla alongside a team with experience at Palantir, Revolut, Delivery Hero, Datadog and ASML.
Arrakis develops AI agents for mission-critical industrial operations, targeting sectors including energy, aerospace, logistics and manufacturing.
The name is an unmistakable nod to Arrakis, the desert planet at the heart of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Also known as Dune, the planet is the only natural source of spice, the substance upon which the fictional universe’s economy, politics and interstellar travel depend.
For a company entering the high-stakes world of industrial infrastructure, it is a suitably dramatic choice.
The spice must flow, and apparently so must the enterprise workflow.
Babbel (Berlin, Germany) – The Bible
Founded in Berlin in 2007 by Thomas Holl, Markus Witte, Lorenz Heine and Toine Diepstraten, Babbel is one of Europe’s best-known language-learning companies.
Babbel offers a subscription-based platform offering structured lessons, podcasts, vocabulary practice and interactive speaking exercises. The company says it has sold more than 25 million subscriptions and now provides around 60,000 lessons across 14 languages.
EU-Startups included Babbel in its June 2020 overview of European language-learning apps. Its name, however, reaches considerably further back than the app economy.
Babbel takes its name from the Tower of Babel, adding an extra “b” to create its distinctive spelling. In the Book of Genesis, God gives the tower’s builders different languages, leaving them unable to understand one another and causing them to abandon the project and scatter.
The added letter also evokes “babble”, neatly combining mythology, conversation and the awkward early stages of learning a language.
Bending Spoons (Milan, Italy) – The Matrix
Founded in 2013 by Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella and Tomasz Greber, Bending Spoons is a Milan-based technology company that develops and acquires digital products. Its portfolio has included well-known platforms such as Evernote, Meetup, Remini, WeTransfer and Vimeo.
EU-Startups has followed the company’s rapid expansion, including its raise of more than €500 million in 2025 and its subsequent filing for a Nasdaq IPO in June 2026.
The company has confirmed that its unusual name comes from The Matrix, specifically the scene in which a child appears to bend a spoon using only his mind. The moment leads to the film’s memorable lesson that the spoon itself is not really bending; Neo must instead recognise that the rules governing his surroundings are not as fixed as they appear.
It is a suitably mind-bending reference for a company known for reshaping established digital products. The only disappointment is that its growing portfolio is managed through software and corporate strategy rather than telekinesis.
Daedalus (Karlsruhe, Germany) – Greek Mythology
Karlsruhe-based Daedalus is applying AI, robotics and software to precision manufacturing. Founded in 2019 by Jonas Schneider, a former OpenAI technical lead, the startup operates automated factories capable of producing complex components for industrial customers.
Daedalus is one of Greek mythology’s great engineers. In Greek legend, he was an exceptionally skilled inventor, architect and craftsman, best known for designing the labyrinth that imprisoned the Minotaur. He also built the wings used by himself and his son Icarus in their attempted escape from Crete.
For a startup building advanced manufacturing systems, Daedalus is close to perfect. The only slightly awkward detail is that his most famous aviation project had a famously poor safety record. Perhaps the company should keep its robots away from the sun.
Heimdall Power (Oslo, Norway) – Norse Mythology
Founded in 2016, Heimdall Power develops technology that helps electricity-grid operators monitor power lines and make better use of existing infrastructure. Its hardware sensors, nicknamed Neurons or “Magic Balls”, gather real-time information about factors such as line temperature, weather conditions and available transmission capacity.
The Oslo-based company raised €22.9 million in Series B funding in July 2024. The round was co-led by ORLEN, NRP Zero and the Steinsvik Family Office, with participation from existing investors including Investinor, Eviny, Hafslund, Lyse and Sarsia.
Heimdall is the watchman of the gods in Norse mythology, stationed at the entrance to Asgard and gifted with extraordinary sight and hearing. The company has explicitly drawn a comparison between the mythological guardian and Heimdall Power’s role in watching over electricity infrastructure.
The original Heimdall guarded the rainbow bridge Bifröst. His technological namesake watches high-voltage power lines. The scenery may be less colourful, but the monitoring brief remains broadly similar.
Mimir (Oslo, Norway) – Norse Mythology
Mimir uses AI to automate customer support and operational tasks for e-commerce companies. Founded in 2024 by Jørgen Vartdal Halse, Jens Kristoffersen and Øyvind Monsen, the startup raised €518.3k in pre-Seed funding in June 2026.
The round was led by Sondo, with participation from angel investors connected to companies including VILLOID, Kry, Enode and Whitson. Mimir’s platform is intended to help online retailers handle repetitive enquiries and workflows while drawing on information scattered across their existing systems.
While the company has not officially made the connection, Mímir is an unmistakable figure from Norse mythology. Renowned for his wisdom, memory and counsel, he guarded a well whose waters offered knowledge. Odin famously sacrificed an eye for the opportunity to drink from it.
An all-knowing adviser is a natural mascot for an AI platform expected to answer questions quickly and accurately. Thankfully, modern e-commerce teams can access Mimir’s knowledge without surrendering an eye every time a customer asks where their parcel is.
Naboo (Paris, France) – Star Wars
Founded in 2022 by Maxime Eduardo, Antoine Servant, Lucien Bredin and Jean-Louis Villeminot, Naboo provides a platform through which companies can search for, book and manage corporate events.
The Paris-based startup has raised €86.2 million across rounds of €7.5 million, €20 million and €58.7 million, with investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Notion Capital, ISAI, Ternel and Kima Ventures.
Its name comes from the planet Naboo in Star Wars, the picturesque homeworld associated with Queen Amidala, grand palaces, rolling green countryside and the occasional trade blockade.
The company has connected that natural setting with its emphasis on organising more local events and reducing unnecessary international travel. It is a surprisingly thoughtful explanation for a name that might otherwise sound like someone booked the company retreat while binge-watching the prequel trilogy.
No word yet on whether lightsaber workshops are available as a team-building activity.
Valarian (London, UK) – Game of Thrones
Valarian develops AI infrastructure designed to help organisations deploy and manage AI. The company was co-founded by Max Buchan and Josh McLaughlin, who previously spent more than a decade at Palantir – another technology company with a famously fantasy-inspired name.
Valarian has not publicly confirmed the origin of its name, but the apparent reference is difficult to miss. Its spelling closely resembles Valyrian, the language, civilisation and legendary steel associated with Valyria in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and its television adaptation, Game of Thrones.
The theory is strengthened by McLaughlin’s Palantir background, making another fantasy-adjacent company name feel potentially deliberate.
Either way, a name evoking an advanced but mysterious lost civilisation is suitably dramatic for an AI company – although Valarian will presumably be hoping to avoid Valyria’s rather explosive ending.
From myth to reality
From Naboo’s green plains to the deserts of Arrakis, these names do more than make companies easier to remember. They provide a miniature origin story, signalling what a startup wants to represent before anyone has read its pitch deck.
Ariadne offers guidance, Heimdall keeps watch, Mimir supplies knowledge and Daedalus builds.
Some connections are confirmed, others remain educated guesses, but all demonstrate the same useful lesson: when the available domain names are disappearing, several thousand years of stories can be a very productive place to look.
