Key facts
- UK AI startup Emulate is in advanced talks to raise up to $700 million in a seed funding round.
- The company is nearing a pre-money valuation of $3.7 billion, according to the Financial Times.
- Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners are expected to lead the funding round, with Creandum also participating.
- Emulate focuses on developing 'world models,' AI systems that simulate and predict the physical world.
- The founders were previously involved in DeepMind's Genie project, which generated 3D environments from text prompts.
- Emulate has no product or website currently available.
Emulate, a UK-based artificial intelligence startup founded in August by three former Google DeepMind researchers, is reportedly in advanced talks to raise up to $700 million in a seed funding round. The company is seeking a pre-money valuation of approximately $3.7 billion, which would bring its post-money valuation close to $4 billion, according to reports from the Financial Times and Bloomberg.
Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners are expected to lead the investment, with Creandum also participating. Despite having no product or website, Emulate's valuation is driven by the reputation of its founders, who were part of DeepMind's world-model team. World models are AI systems designed to simulate and predict the physical world, a field distinct from large language models that power chatbots.
This significant early-stage investment reflects a broader trend of AI researchers leaving major tech labs to form their own companies, often attracting substantial capital based on their expertise. Emulate is the third major London AI spin-off from DeepMind this year, following Ineffable Intelligence and Recursive Superintelligence, which also secured large funding rounds.