16 UK AI Startups to Watch According to VCs

TL;DR: UK AI startups secured Nvidia’s £2bn backing commitment and dominate Sifted’s AI 100 list with 38 companies—more than double Germany’s 25. VCs highlight promising startups including Cascade (Excel AI), Boltzbit (General Learning Intelligence), and Lumai (optical computing).

The UK continues to assert itself as Europe’s leading AI innovation hub, with 38 companies on Sifted’s inaugural AI 100 ranking—the most of any European country. Germany ranked second with 25 companies, followed by France with 15. The country’s AI ecosystem has attracted significant attention, including Nvidia chief Jensen Huang’s September promise to back UK AI startups to the tune of £2bn.

Sifted surveyed leading VCs including Amadeus Capital Partners, Baltic Ventures, Ada Ventures, Ruya Ventures, and Paladin Capital Group to identify non-portfolio AI startups they’re watching closely in the UK market.

Highlighted Startups

Cascade (Mildenhall) embeds AI directly into Excel workflows, helping users automate complex tasks, generate formulas, and interpret data with conversational ease. The tool positions itself as a key enabler of AI-powered decision-making across industries as enterprise adoption accelerates.

Trismik (Cambridge) tackles LLM testing and evaluation with a science-grade framework for benchmarking large language models. The company offers transparency, reproducibility, and depth critical for both researchers and enterprises deploying AI at scale.

Boltzbit (London), founded by former Google and Microsoft AI researchers, aims to achieve General Learning Intelligence. The startup has developed the first GenAI models capable of instant learning, inspired by Nobel Prize-winning Boltzmann machine architecture and built on high-quality proprietary data.

Lumai (Oxford) spun out from Oxford University with breakthrough 3D optical computing technology using light beams for calculations. The company claims up to 50× performance improvement over today’s processors whilst using only 10% of the power.

Spaitial (London) develops Spatial Foundation Models understanding and generating 3D environments with physics and spatial reasoning, targeting gaming, AR/VR, digital twins, and robotics markets.

MyCardium AI (Liverpool) creates AI-powered cardiac imaging software using a “human-in-the-loop” model to support clinicians in improving accuracy and throughput for echocardiography and cardiac MRI.

SenseAI Vision (Liverpool) develops compressive sensing imaging software for electron microscopes, claiming up to 100× faster image acquisition by collecting vastly fewer data points whilst reconstructing high-fidelity images. The company closed seed funding in September 2025 led by Foresight Group Ventures.

Dabalox (London) applies conversational AI to the home heat pump and retrofit market, acting as a “heat coach” for homeowners. The platform claims to save approximately £600 per install by bridging communication gaps between homeowners and installers.

Looking Forward

The UK’s strong performance reflects a combination of world-class research institutions, accessible venture capital, and supportive policy frameworks. The diversity of applications—from healthcare and energy efficiency to productivity tools and foundational AI research—demonstrates the breadth of the UK’s AI ecosystem.

As Nvidia’s commitment and continued VC interest suggest, the UK’s position as Europe’s AI leader appears set to strengthen, with startups tackling fundamental challenges across computing efficiency, enterprise productivity, and real-world applications.

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