The news that American AI company Runway will make London its new European headquarters and plans to invest more than $200 million by the end of 2028 is yet another signal that the AI talent cluster of London is acting like a honeypot to well-funded US AI companies.
Following in the wake of Anthropic and OpenAI, U.S. tech companies are increasingly looking to tap into the commercial and talent opportunities in the city. They will join other tech companies with AI hubs there, including Google and DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic, Salesforce, Meta and Microsoft.
Pathfounders confidently predicts Runway will either be in or close by to these offices in Kings Cross, which is now dubbed “the Knowledge Quarter”.
Runway, which is building so-called “world models”, most recently raised $315 million in a Series E, featuring General Atlantic, AMD Ventures and Nvidia, giving it a $5.3 billion valuation.
Anastasis Germanidis, cofounder and Co-CEO at Runway, told CNBC: “London puts us close to many of our largest European customers already doing serious work with Runway, including BBC, Fremantle and WPP, and it builds on the research team we already have here… The talent pool is exceptional… We expect to expand further across Europe.”
In April, Anthropic announced plans to open a new office space for 800 people, shortly after OpenAI said it would open its first permanent office in the U.K. capital.
