DeepMind Alum Seeks $1B at $4B Valuation for London AI Lab in Europe's Largest Seed Round
David Silver, the former Google DeepMind scientist who led the team behind AlphaGo, is raising $1 billion for a London-based artificial intelligence startup in what could become Europe's largest seed funding round, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal values Silver's new company, Ineffable Intelligence, at approximately $4 billion and is being led by Sequoia Capital, the Financial Times reported. Nvidia, Google, and Microsoft are also considering investments in the venture, which Silver launched after leaving his research role at DeepMind late last year.
For finance leaders tracking AI infrastructure spending, the deal signals continued investor appetite for foundational AI research despite broader market uncertainty around AI monetization. The $4 billion pre-revenue valuation—assuming the company has yet to launch products—represents the kind of bet that only a handful of technical founders can command, particularly those with Silver's track record in reinforcement learning.
Silver plans to build on his DeepMind work in reinforcement learning, a branch of machine learning where AI systems learn through trial and error by receiving rewards or penalties based on their actions. At DeepMind, he used this approach to train AI programs including AlphaGo and AlphaStar to defeat human champions in complex games. Silver, who also serves as a professor at University College London, will lead Ineffable Intelligence as CEO.
The fundraise continues a pattern of top European AI researchers departing established labs to launch well-capitalized startups. Former Meta chief scientist Yann LeCun is currently in talks to raise €500 million at a €3 billion valuation for AMI Labs, a new venture focused on world models, according to Sifted. LeCun has reportedly assembled researchers from Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Elon Musk's xAI, and Meta for that effort.
Paris-based Mistral AI, which launched in 2023, followed a similar playbook. The company was founded by Google DeepMind alum Arthur Mensch and two former Meta researchers and has since become one of Europe's most prominent AI startups.
"This is further evidence that the UK and wider European ecosystem can produce globally significant companies," said Ashish Patel, managing director at investment banking firm Houlihan Lokey Capital Solutions Group. "Well-informed investors are seeking the most capable individuals developing the most advanced technologies."
For CFOs evaluating AI vendor relationships, the emergence of these researcher-led startups creates both opportunity and complexity. Companies backed by major cloud providers like Google and Microsoft may offer tighter integration with existing enterprise infrastructure, but also raise questions about data governance and vendor lock-in that finance teams will need to navigate.
The deal also underscores the concentration of AI capital among a small number of technical founders with Big Tech pedigrees—a dynamic that may influence pricing power and competitive dynamics as these startups move from research to commercialization.
Ineffable Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment.
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