London stealth AI labs raise $2.5bn this year, led by David Silver's $1.1bn seed
AjdDavison · x · 2026-11-09
Per Seb Johnson, 10 AI labs have come out of stealth in London this year, together raising over $2.5bn and making the city the world's second-biggest AI hub.
Highlights:
- Ineffable Labs: founded by AlphaGo's David Silver, $1.1bn seed at a $5.1bn valuation
- Recursive SI: backed by rockt and Richard Socher, $650m at $4.65bn
- Emulate (still stealth): DeepMind world-models researcher Jake Parker Holder, in talks for $700m at $3.7bn one month after founding
- Revolution Labs: Nando de Freitas (DeepMind, Microsoft AI), $60m led by Accel
- Inherent Labs: Edward Hughes and DeepMind alumni, $50m seed
- Machenta: Imperial professor Ed Johns, $40m — the UK's largest-ever robotics seed
Imperial College's Andrew Davison adds that Machenta, Cursive and Callosum were founded by alumni or close associates of his lab.
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