Stanhope AI, a London-based deep tech company developing brain-inspired artificial intelligence, announced the close of an $8 million seed round led by Frontline Ventures with participation from Paladin Capital Group and Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, plus follow-on backing from UCL Technology Fund and MMC Ventures.
From Language Models to Physical Intelligence
Funding supports progress on the company’s Real World Model, an adaptive framework built to operate in dynamic physical environments beyond the limits of large language systems. “We’re moving from language-based AI to intelligence that possesses the ability to act to understand its world – a system with a fundamental agency,” said Professor Rosalyn Moran, CEO and co-founder of Stanhope AI. “Our approach doesn’t just process words, it understands context, uncertainty, and physical reality.”
Founded in 2023, the company builds on work with Professor Karl Friston at UCL’s Institute of Neurology, applying the Free Energy Principle through Active Inference so machines can minimise uncertainty via continuous perception and action. The method enables systems to learn and adjust in real time rather than depend on static datasets. Technology is already under evaluation in autonomous drone and robotics programmes with international partners.
Active Inference Moves AI Into Real-World Applications
Momentum aligns with industry movement toward edge deployment, highlighted at CES 2026 when NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang declared, “The ChatGPT moment for physical AI is here.” Stanhope AI develops efficient, explainable models designed to run on-device with limited data and energy, supporting uses in autonomy, defence, industrial automation and embedded hardware.
With new capital, Stanhope AI plans to expand partnerships and field trials across defence, aerospace and other reliability-critical sectors in 2026.