The first recipients of funding under the UK Government’s £500m Sovereign AI Program have been announced. This is aimed at supporting the development of promising domestic start-ups.
The group of initial funders includes Prima Mente, a London and San Francisco company that uses AI to decipher the “language of biology” such as gene expression and epigenetic regulation from DNA sequences to better understand neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Another company is Twig Bio, based in London. The company is developing a foundational model for AI-driven strain design in engineering biology and biomanufacturing (called CANOPY) for scalable and sustainable manufacturing and production of biomaterials.
Beneficiaries, which also include AI infrastructure startup Callosum, will have access to the UK’s supercomputing capacity, with up to 1 million GPU hours per company available to train AI models.
Other benefits of the program include fast-track visas issued within one business day, fee waivers for the first 10 applications, and the ability to hire R&D talent from abroad. You’ll also get hands-on help with access to data, early sourcing opportunities, independent product validation, and navigating new regulations.
According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSTI), Sovereign AI is built to function like an agile and flexible venture capital firm, with a mission to “support the UK’s smartest founders and keep the future of AI built in the UK” by helping them scale up quickly and compete with international rivals. The funds will be allocated in installments between £1 million and £10 million.
Ravi Solanki, co-founder of Prima Mente, said the initiative made the UK “a great place to work at the forefront of AI and life sciences”.
The company has ongoing research collaborations with the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, the University of Edinburgh, and technology giant NVIDIA, and recently launched Pleiades, the first family of models focused on human epigenetics in Alzheimer’s disease.
Meanwhile, Ross Tucker, chief executive and founder of Twig Bio, said: “This will enable us to move beyond incremental strain engineering, building a globally competitive capability in the UK and making biomanufacturing viable for a wider range of ingredients.”
DSTI said Sovereign AI will continue to assess applications and allocate tens of millions of pounds worth of computing to UK start-ups throughout the year.
“Sovereign AI is unlike anything the government has done before. Its unique approach will help break down the barriers that too often hold back British business and innovation,” Technology Secretary Liz Kendall commented.
“This is how we ensure Britain’s economic prosperity and national security in modern times,” she added. “My message to Britain’s founders and innovators is clear: Britain will ensure you don’t have to choose between your ambitions and your home, because we give you both.”
