Sovereign AI

Sovereign AI. Launching Tonight. 🇬🇧

Over the last few months, AI founders have flagged to me the challenge of procurement: that it’s still too hard for British startups to sell to government. Two practical pieces of progress to report back! 🚀 1/ UK AI leader, @quantexa, has today been awarded a major £175m Decision Intelligence contract by the UK government at HMRC. Congratulations, @VishalMarria4 and team @quantexa 🇬🇧 quantexa.com/press/quantexa… 2/ We are in the final two days of consulting on our fast R&D procurement set up at @UKSovereignAI, so govt can move at the pace of the fastest customer in validating the best of British AI. Have your view here: find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/035079-… Lots more to do!

@goodwin_ml Congratulations Walter and the Fractile team 🚀

I am thrilled to share the news that Fractile's mission to build chips and systems that unlock the next generation of AI scaling has been bolstered, with a $220M funding round led by Accel, Factorial Funds, and Founders Fund, alongside some incredible backers old and new. AI inference is driving the defining infrastructure buildout of the 21st Century. We've written a bit about where we think capabilities must go, and how Fractile is working to bring this about: fractile.ai/news/fractile-… It has been a privilege working on one of the hardest but most rewarding technical challenges of our time for over three years, with the most brilliant, kind and driven people I could have ever hoped to work alongside. We are still just getting started. There is a lot to be done to deliver on our goals, but we are grateful to have the support of so many people in chasing these down every minute of every day. Thanks, all, for being part of the Fractile mission! 🚀 @fractile_ai

Yesterday, we kicked off our May tour in Newcastle at Atom bank! The event brought together founders, investors, students and ecosystem leaders from across the North East. A massive thank you @SunSoftCity and @NorthEast_CA for helping to organise. It was fantastic to connect with so many incredible founders building in the North East.

@demishassabis @Jameswise @maxjaderberg 🇬🇧

@Jameswise @maxjaderberg @UKSovereignAI Thanks for the support @Jameswise!

We're very fortunate to have @demishassabis, @maxjaderberg and the incredible team building Isomorphic based here in the UK - but on a mission to improve health across the globe. Delighted that @UKSovereignAI will be supporting them on this journey.

@HZoete …And we’re just getting started 🇬🇧 🚀

Callosum, Ineffable and now Isomorphic. SovAI is flying! 🚀🚀🚀

@matthewclifford 🇬🇧

SovAI racking up an impressive portfolio!

@SebJohnsonUK @HZoete @GoogleDeepMind @demishassabis 🇬🇧

A UK startup has just raised one of the largest rounds in Biotech history. $2.1bn raised to use AI to create new drugs and cure diseases. Spun out of @GoogleDeepMind, headed up by @demishassabis, and now backed by the UK's @UKSovereignAI fund. And of course headquartered in LONDON. Amazing news - congrats @IsomorphicLabs

💥 Sovereign AI is backing @IsomorphicLabs 💥   Sovereign AI has invested in Isomorphic Labs. Led by Nobel Prize-winner and CEO Sir Demis Hassabis and President Max Jaderberg, Isomorphic is using frontier AI to transform drug discovery, ushering in a new era of biomedical breakthroughs.

🔔Announcement🔔 Suzanne Ashman, former General Partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude, is joining Sovereign AI as Managing Partner. Suzanne, who has spent a decade backing founders who have come to define a generation of British technology, from Tessian to Open Cosmos, is one of the most respected venture investors in the UK.

Watch the full video here: youtu.be/BvGwrz87XkE?si…

We're here in listening mode... Watch @alexgkendall and @MeryemArik9 discuss how Sovereign AI can be the best partners for AI startups with @KanishkaNarayan.

Here's my second quarterly update as Chair of Sovereign AI, now that I'm 6 months into the role. Since the last update we have: - formally launched the fund 🥳 - completed our first equity investments 💷 - set up our investment process, legal structure and hired more leadership 👩‍💼 - set out our investment criteria 📖 The response has been amazing. 130+ applications for compute access (60M+ GPU hours of demand), close to 100 direct applications for equity funding. Already investing in critical areas of AI, alongside the worlds best VCs. My goals for the next quarter: - more investments, with 6 approaching IC in coming weeks 💷 - the next procurement programme 📜 - deeper research collaborations 🔬 - and a UK tour 🇬🇧 We're also hiring two Investment Partners. You can find full details and read the report in the link below, and find live updates on applications and jobs on our website. Huge thanks to everyone who has supported us so far!

@SunSoftCity, @NorthEast_CA, @FilamentStac, @TramshedCF

Sovereign AI is going on tour! Throughout May our investment team will be heading to locations across the country to connect with incredible founders and the local ecosystem. We'll be announcing more locations soon! 👀

I'll be live on @TimesRadio with @JPonpolitics at 17.45 today to discuss how the UK is navigating the opportunities and challenges AI presents, and why it's critically important that we scale our sovereign AI capabilities. Do tune in!

@etnshow @Jameswise 🇬🇧

"UK AI companies in the last quarter raised six billion pounds...3x what we did last year, more than the whole of... continental Europe combined". @Jameswise, Chairman of the £500M @UKSovereignAI Fund I on the UK's AI future: "We're working with some of the leading UK based and international venture funds and those relationships will be incredibly valuable for crowding in more money over time". "Should you need the hundred million pound round, the billion pound round or even the ten billion pound round... all the other public finance bodies we've got are looking at you from day one". "The UK needs a huge amount of capital to compete in AI. Luckily, we're going in the right direction... there is probably nowhere outside the US and China you can raise billion pound seed rounds like we're seeing here outside of the UK". From James's appearance in April.

🚨New: In Conversation With... 🚨 Watch @MeryemArik9, @alexgkendall and @KanishkaNarayan discuss what it takes to scale in Britain - recorded live at the our launch. Check it out 👇 youtu.be/BvGwrz87XkE

@IneffableLabs Read more here: sovereignai.gov.uk/post/sovereign…

🇬🇧 Sovereign AI is backing @IneffableLabs 🇬🇧 We can announce Sovereign AI has invested in Ineffable. Led by David Silver, Ineffable is building learning systems that can go beyond the limits of human knowledge, learning continuously to push the frontiers of science and technology.