Take it from an AI founder, London is where it’s at
Forget Silicon Valley, AI startup founder Dima Eremin says UK regulations, conversely, are making London more attractive
According to Companies House data analysed by Rathbones, almost 6,000 owners of high-growth businesses left the UK between January 2024 and January 2026, while only 3,182 arrived. That’s a net loss of 2,758, and when you pair that with all of the press coverage that founder flight from the UK has gotten – particularly to the US – why would we want to be part of that incoming minority? Surely the masses have to be right, right?
Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years as a founder, that’s not always the case. Ever since we took part in On Deck in San Francisco back in 2021, Bluedot has been registered in the US as its main headquarters. But we’re now in the process of changing that for the UK.
San Fran isn’t everything
The first and most obvious reason for that is that despite what recent headlines may lead you to believe, the UK is still the third most important AI hub in the world after the US and China. It is also Europe’s biggest producer of unicorns, creating a total of 222 over the years which is more than Germany, France and Sweden combined (the next three countries on the list).
Sure, the US may still be the leading destination in terms of sheer size and funding, but I think one of the biggest myths is that the VC flywheel route is always the best path to go down. Carta data shows that after a seed round, the median founding team collectively owns 56.2 per cent of their company’s equity. At Series A, that falls to 36.1 per cent, and by the time the company reaches Series B, it’s just 23 per cent. And with that dilution often comes a big loss of control in terms of determining the future and general DNA of the company.
Since we had a clear path to profitability from an early stage, we decided to remain largely bootstrapped and that further weakened the desire to remain based in San Francisco. Bootstrapping might not make as many headlines, but it can absolutely build a successful business – Bluedot is now doing over $4m ARR coming from a base of raising just $500k.
Being in the US comes with a huge cost premium too, particularly in San Francisco. Talent is maybe the best example; the average salary of an AI engineer in San Francisco is just over £158,000, compared to just £83,000 in London, according to Indeed. The cost saving is enormous whilst still being in one of the best locations globally when it comes to talent. The UK is home to four of the top 10 universities in the world, exactly equal to the number found in America.
Regulation is London’s unique advantage
But really the biggest difference for us between both ecosystems is policy and regulation. For an AI business handling potentially sensitive conversations – an AI notetaker – the privacy culture created by the UK’s and EU’s closely aligned GDPR regimes has become our biggest commercial advantage. GDPR assumes data protection as a fundamental human right and is treated as such. In the US, however, there is a mix of federal rules and state laws which businesses and consumers seem to have much less faith in.
That’s why for my startup we decided from the outset to store our clients’ data in Europe, and we’re winning more and more big clients that are based in America because of that. Now we’ve decided to double down on that identity by starting to move the registered base of the company to this side of the Atlantic too.
The final factor for me is one that is often missed amidst all the stories around millionaire flight from the UK. More than a founder, I’m a dad and a family man too. From schools to healthcare and everything in between, the UK has always felt to me like a more aligned environment from a lifestyle perspective than we might have in the Bay area.
So from the robust regulatory framework that supports one of our main USPs to also being a brilliant place to live life as well as build a company, London ticks all the right boxes for me – and maybe it’s not such a bad thing to be part of that incoming minority after all.
Dima Eremin is co-founder of AI startup Bluedot