The Rundown: Edition 17 – Sifted Summit, IPOs and AI bubbles
Welcome to The Rundown, a snapshot of news, views and intel from the fast-growth tech and investment scene.
Thanks to those who have flagged events or stories of interest, please keep them coming. You can send updates for next week to [email protected], and do
Revolut CEO changes residency to the UAE
Nik Storonsky, Co-founder of the $75bn-valued fintech giant, is the latest in a wave of wealthy individuals to change their residency status following the abolition of the UK’s non-dom regime. Forbes
China’s BYD sees UK EV car sales surge 880%
BYD sold 11,271 cars in the UK in September and Britain is now its largest market outside China. The UK is a comparatively attractive destination for the Chinese EV manufacturer because it faces no tariffs, unlike the EU and the US. BBC
EU outlines new strategy in push towards AI sovereignty
The strategy, which is still at draft stage, aims to develop greater independence from China and the US in a move the bloc hopes will accelerate the development of EU-made AI technologies. FT
Sunak takes up advisory roles with AI rivals
The former Prime Minister has taken up advisory positions at Microsoft and Anthropic. Sunak remains an MP, announcing that he will donate his pay for the roles to his charity, The Richmond Project. FT
Shawbrook announces IPO plans
The Essex-based bank announced plans to admit its shares to the main market of the London Stock Exchange, valuing the firm at up to £2bn. The news follows the recent London listing of Beauty Tech Group. City AM
Accel and Nvidia back $2.5bn-valued AI agent firm N8N
The Berlin-based startup, which helps businesses deploy artificial intelligence agents, has raised $180m in a Series C round led by Accel, with additional investment from Meritech, Redpoint, Evantic, Visionaries Club and Nvidia’s VC arm, NVentures. Bloomberg
Healthcare AI developer Heidi Health raises £48m
Heidi Health, which was founded in Australia and is used by more than 60% of NHS GPs to reduce bureaucracy, has announced a Series B funding round led by Point72 Private Investments, with participation from Blackbird, Headline, and Local Globe. Sky News
Cambridge spinout Owlstone Medical awarded $49m
Owlstone, which has developed a breath-based early diagnostics device for cancer, has received an award of up to $49.1m from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Tech Funding News
Quantum-proof cyber firm Sitehop secures £7.5m
The Sheffield-based startup has announced a round led by Northern Gritstone, with investment from Amadeus Capital, Manta Ray, Mercia Ventures and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. UKTN
Autonomous flight startup Sees.ai raises £3.65m
Sees.ai, which was founded in 2018, has raised a funding round co-led by Sustainable Future Ventures, Hearst Ventures and Elbow Beach Capital. Additional funding came from WakeUp Capital. UKTN
Drone partnership won’t protect against Russian aggression
Britain’s “Project Octopus” partnership with Ukraine to mass-produce interceptor drones will fail if it does not include a larger, integrated defence network, according to Andriy Dovbenko, Principal and Founder of UK-Ukraine TechExchange. LBC and LBC
“Building a business in Europe is like playing on hard mode”
Anton Osika, CEO and Co-founder of Lovable, highlights the challenges for European startups contending with cross-border rules and regulations. The EU-Inc campaign is designed to make things easier. Will it work? Times
The road to an online hospital
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced an NHS online hospital; however, Martin Bradbury, Regional VP UK&I of Dynatrace, maintains that its success will depend not only on the technology itself but also on the level of investment in digital infrastructure. UKTN
So, you have about 10,000 days left to live
The average person lives for 30,000 days (or 81 years), and at 52, Steve Rigby, Co-CEO of Rigby Group, will be alive for approximately 10,000 days more. This countdown has left him “energised rather than daunted”, as he plans to maximise the time he has left. LinkedIn
Winning the war but losing innovation?
IP sovereignty is about Ukraine’s economy, as well as the resilience of Europe and NATO, according to Andriy Dovbenko, Principal and Founder of UK-Ukraine TechExchange. Atlantic Council
TIME reveals the best inventions of the year
Among the 300 best inventions improving the world and our lives is UNCAGED Innovations. The biomaterials startup has developed a plant-based leather alternative made from grains, which looks, feels, and performs like traditional leather. TIME
News reports of the AI bubble are expanding at the same rate as AI companies’ stock prices. Ian King likens it to the dotcom bust, with “one of the most worrying parallels” being companies engaged in “so-called vendor financing”. Others resort to alliteration, with Fortune calling out the “dizzying delirium” of the AI’s “Wild West”. With huge sums invested in such a short amount of time, questions of whether the growth is sustainable are fair game. One thing that certainly isn’t sustainable is OpenAI’s energy use. Sam Altman’s AI empire will soon consume as much power as New York City and San Diego combined. This has Altman looking to the Middle East and Asia to help put the multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure plan into place.
Sifted Summit has been and gone, with the great and the good of European tech out in force. Here are a few highlights. Reshma Sohoni, Founding Partner of Seedcamp, shared a sentiment that was widely echoed: Europe is good on supply and capital, but bad on demand. Alex Depledge, Entrepreneurship Advisor to UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, revealed that “50% of VC-backed companies in the last 10 years have left the country“, while former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned that AI models can be hacked and “learn how to kill someone”. Happy weekend!
Making friends can be difficult for many people. Now imagine you’re a millionaire. Business Insider has found that this is when things become even harder. Not wanting to feel like you’re bragging or being lumped with the cheque each time can result in loneliness or making and maintaining friendships with non-wealthy people nigh-on-impossible. This might be strange to wrap your head around, considering it’s now “impossible” for a typical worker to save enough to become rich – taking at least 52 years of earnings to be deemed wealthy, according to The Resolution Foundation. Perhaps a $129 wearable AI companion is the solution to this friendship gap.