{"text":[[{"start":11.84,"text":"A month-old British start-up founded by former Google DeepMind researchers is close to clinching hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding at a nearly $4bn valuation, the latest high-profile offshoot from the London AI lab."}],[{"start":24.025,"text":"The start-up, called Emulate, is in advanced talks with prospective investors to raise as much as $700mn, priced at $3.7bn including the capital raised, according to people familiar with the deal. UK-based Index Ventures and Silicon Valley’s Lightspeed Venture Partners are poised to jointly lead the round, these people added."}],[{"start":44.48,"text":"Emulate, which was incorporated in August, was founded by a group of former Google DeepMind researchers including Jack Parker-Holder, Matthew McGill and Philip Ball, who previously helped create its Genie world models."}],[{"start":57.301,"text":"Genie can generate realistic videos and interactive 3D environments from a short prompt. Its unveiling in January sent shockwaves through the video games industry, wiping billions from the market value of the likes of Take-Two, Roblox and Unity."}],[{"start":71.36,"text":"World models, which are trained to understand and replicate physical space, are seen as a new frontier in AI research that is less crowded than the large language models that power ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude."}],[{"start":83.33,"text":"Emulate’s fundraising comes just weeks after Google DeepMind co-founder Sir Demis Hassabis said he was stepping down as the AI lab’s chief executive to become its chair. Hassabis was seen as playing a vital role in building up Google’s AI research capability in London, after selling DeepMind to the Big Tech group in 2014."}],[{"start":103.68,"text":"Spinouts led by former researchers at big AI companies — known as neo-labs — have been able to attract billions of dollars in funding this year."}],[{"start":110.605,"text":"These nascent companies can command huge valuations based largely on the reputation of their founders, often before even building their first products, as investors clamour for exposure to hot AI start-ups."}],[{"start":121.705,"text":"Several such groups have been launched by former Google researchers. Last month, Google’s chief scientist Jeff Dean announced his departure from the company to found his own US-based AI start-up, Discovery Loop."}],[{"start":133.12,"text":"Emulate, which has been operating in “stealth mode” without a public profile, is the third UK neo-lab to emerge from DeepMind’s London offices this year with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, showing how top AI research talent continues to be prized by venture capitalists hoping to back the next Anthropic or OpenAI."}],[{"start":155.84,"text":"Former DeepMind researcher David Silver raised about $1bn of funding at a $5bn valuation for his start-up Ineffable Intelligence, while a team of former DeepMind and OpenAI engineers raised more than $600mn at a $4bn valuation for their company Recursive Superintelligence."}],[{"start":175.04,"text":"The two biggest costs for such groups are financing the compute needed to develop AI models and recruiting leading researchers in a competitive market."}],[{"start":182.647,"text":"Sifted previously reported that Parker-Holder and his team were looking to raise significant capital. Index, Lightspeed and Emulate declined to comment."}],[{"start":183.147,"text":"Additional reporting by Madhumita Murgia in London"}],[{"start":201.1,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789633263_9507.mp3"}