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Month-old British AI startup Emulate nears $700m seed round at a $3.7bn valuation despite having no product

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Jack Parker-Holder, who co-founded Emulate after leading development of DeepMind's Genie 2 world-model technology, as the startup nears a $3.7bn valuation on a $700m seed round.
Jack Parker-Holder, who co-founded Emulate after leading development of DeepMind's Genie 2 world-model technology, as the startup nears a $3.7bn valuation on a $700m seed round.

Emulate, a British AI startup incorporated just last month by three former Google DeepMind researchers, is in advanced talks to raise up to $700m in what would rank among the largest seed rounds ever recorded. Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners are expected to jointly lead the raise, with Creandum also set to participate. The company has no product, no website and no disclosed headcount — yet investors are pricing it at $3.7bn including the new capital. Terms have not been finalised and could still change.

Emulate's founders — Jack Parker-Holder, Matthew McGill and Philip Ball — all worked on DeepMind's Genie world models, which generate interactive 3D environments from a text prompt.

The company is building 'world models' — AI systems that simulate real-world physics, letting robotics firms run thousands of virtual tests before deploying strategies on actual machines.

Emulate is the third UK AI lab to spin out of DeepMind this year at a nine- or ten-figure raise, following Ineffable Intelligence at a $5bn valuation and Recursive Superintelligence at $4bn.

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