Artificial Intelligence
DeepMind alumni sought funding for new AI startups
Bloomberg reported that current and former Google DeepMind staff were meeting in London and raising capital for new companies as investors backed researchers with lab pedigrees.
- Bloomberg said 15 Google DeepMind employees and alumni met for breakfast in central London to discuss raising money for an AI startup.
- A person who attended said the discussion focused on what investors in Silicon Valley wanted to fund.
- Nando de Freitas was said to be in talks to raise at least $100 million for Revolution Labs, which would focus on diffusion models, according to multiple people familiar with the plans.
- A June analysis by Radical Ventures said Google and DeepMind had produced more than 40 founders of neolabs, more than OpenAI, Anthropic PBC and Meta Platforms Inc. combined.
Bloomberg said the breakfast meeting brought together 15 current and former Google DeepMind staff in central London. An attendee said the conversation turned to how to raise money for an AI startup and what backers in Silicon Valley wanted to support.
The article linked the shift to Alphabet’s move of its AI centre of gravity from London to California. It also said Demis Hassabis had stepped down from running Google’s AI and research operations in August.
Nando de Freitas, who had worked at DeepMind for about a decade, was reported to be in discussions to raise at least $100 million for Revolution Labs. The startup was said to be aiming at diffusion models, which the article described as an alternative to the transformer approach used in large language models, and de Freitas did not respond to requests for comment.
Bloomberg said other DeepMind alumni, including David Silver, Thore Graepel and Jack Parker-Holder, had raised money or were trying to do so for their own ventures. It also said John Jumper had joined Anthropic, and Janusz Marecki, now at Ahren Innovation Capital, said venture capital firms were approaching former DeepMind colleagues.
Named in this story
People
- Demis Hassabis
- the DeepMind co-founder who stepped down from that role in August
- Nando de Freitas
- the former DeepMind scientist discussing a fundraise for a new startup
- David Silver
- a DeepMind alumnus who had raised, or was seeking, money for a project
- Thore Graepel
- a DeepMind alumnus who had raised, or was seeking, money for a project
- Jack Parker-Holder
- a DeepMind alumnus who had raised, or was seeking, money for a project
- John Jumper
- a former DeepMind executive who moved to Anthropic
- Janusz Marecki
- the former DeepMind lead scientist who said VCs were approaching former colleagues
Companies
- Alphabet Inc.
- the parent company that shifted its AI power base
- the company whose AI and research operations Demis Hassabis had run
- Revolution Labs
- the startup he was said to be building around diffusion models
- OpenAI
- one of the companies used in a comparison of neolab founders
- Anthropic PBC
- one of the companies used in a comparison of neolab founders
- Meta Platforms Inc.
- one of the companies used in a comparison of neolab founders
- Radical Ventures
- the firm whose June analysis counted DeepMind-linked founders
- Ahren Innovation Capital
- the investment firm where Janusz Marecki now worked
Organisations
- Google DeepMind
- the research lab whose employees and alumni were meeting and leaving
Places
- London
- the city where the breakfast meeting took place
- California
- the state to which Google shifted its AI power centre
- Silicon Valley
- the investor base discussed at the meeting
How the source tells it
The piece had a mildly boosterish venture-capital register, with prestige-heavy descriptions of DeepMind and repeated emphasis on investors chasing the next big thing.
- hype it framed the alumni activity as a wave of startups and breakthrough-seeking money
- prestige it relied on elite-lab and deep-pocketed investor language to elevate the story