Overview
- Sovereign AI, launched Thursday in London, made its first equity bet on Callosum and granted up to one million GPU hours each to six startups through the national AI Research Resource.
- Recipients get fully funded compute, super‑priority visa decisions in one working day, up to 10 cost‑free R&D visas per company, plus help with early government procurement and navigating rules.
- The unit is set up to act like a venture fund with an independent investment committee led by chair James Wise and head of ventures Joséphine Kant to make decisions at VC speed.
- DSIT said it is assessing further compute requests, has agreed right‑of‑first‑refusal options with some recipients for follow‑on rounds, and is in talks with roughly 30 more firms, while the tech secretary said two direct investments have been made with one yet to be disclosed.
- Ministers frame the effort as a way to keep skills and value at home and to reduce reliance on foreign tech, with the fund sitting inside a wider £2.5 billion AI and quantum package as experts warn about guarding against concentrated gains.