Vienna-based newsrooms.ai writes its own headline with Trending Topics acquisition

Vienna-based newsrooms.ai, an AI-powered content creation tool, has announced the acquisition of Trending Topics, a tech media platform based in Austria.

Trending Topics was founded by Jakob Steinschaden and Bastian Kellhofer and has operated in Europe’s startup and tech sector for ten years.

This deal brings together AI technology and media operations under one company. Financial terms of the acquisition were not shared.

Empowering content creators

newsrooms.ai was incubated within the media house of Trending Topics and became an independent company in 2024. It formed its own developer team and secured investment from Hermann Futter, CEO of Compass Group. 

Led by CEO Erek Stoisser, newsrooms.ai has built a Software-as-a-Service platform for automated content production using large language models (LLMs), designed for use in media and corporate communication.

Its core technology – Generative Engine Optimisation – is designed to optimise online content for AI search engines and chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity. This approach, the company claims, emphasises linguistic quality, data processing within Europe, and distinct editorial output for media and corporate users.

Trending Topics’ Jakob Steinschaden says, “Generative AI isn’t just a helpful add-on, but the new foundation of digital communication. newsrooms.ai and Trending Topics under one roof is a killer combination. We’re embracing the rapid AI development and anticipating what’s inevitably coming for many other companies.”

Aim of the acquisition

Ahead of its official launch, newsrooms.ai tools are already in use by media and corporate test clients, with over 1,000 articles generated each month ahead of the official launch. 

The company plans to expand into audio, image, and video content, along with AI-generated morning briefings and Predictive Communication Intelligence (PCI). 

The platform is being developed to cover the full content cycle, from information sourcing and production to publishing and analytics.

Trending Topics will maintain its tech industry coverage under new ownership, with a growing focus on AI. The platform will become one of the first media brands to be co-produced with AI at the core of its operations. 

Founders Jakob Steinschaden and Bastian Kellhofer will stay involved, hold equity in newsrooms.ai, and contribute to product development, strategy, and business development.

Bastian Kellhofer, co-founder of newsrooms.ai and Trending Topics, says, “After search engines and social media, AI is the next major disruption of the media world of the 21st century. We want to be at the forefront of this development.”

Erek Stoisser, CEO of newsrooms.ai, adds, “Efficiency can be bought. But great language is priceless. We want to help Europe develop its own artificial intelligence infrastructure that values linguistic diversity as a meaningful cultural asset. Our mission is to support technological sovereignty and data security for the continent.”