London-based deep tech startup Stanhope AI has closed a €6.7 million ($8 million) Seed funding round to advance what it calls a new class of adaptive artificial intelligence designed to power autonomous systems in the physical world.
The round was led by Frontline Ventures, with participation from Paladin Capital Group, Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, UCL Technology Fund, and MMC Ventures.
The company says its approach moves beyond the pattern-matching strengths of large language models, aiming instead for systems that can perceive, reason, and act with a degree of context awareness in uncertain environments.
Stanhope is developing what it terms a “Real World Model”, building on principles from neuroscience and computational theory to allow machines to learn and adapt on the fly.
“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,” says Professor Rosalyn Moran, CEO and co-founder of Stanhope AI.
Her team includes theoretical neurobiologist Professor Karl Friston, whose work on the Free Energy Principle informs the startup’s methodology.
Rather than relying on cloud-centric deep learning, Stanhope’s models are designed to run efficiently on edge devices with limited data and power. That fits a broader industry shift toward on-device AI, where systems must operate reliably in dynamic settings such as autonomous vehicles, robots, and defence hardware.
The firm says its technology is already being tested on drones and other autonomous platforms with international partners.
Stanhope’s funding comes amid sustained investor interest in AI and autonomy startups across Europe. In recent months, companies from robotic manufacturing to defence software have attracted capital, underscoring demand for systems that go beyond conventional machine learning.
Frontline Ventures partner Zoe Chambers said Stanhope’s progress from academic research to production-ready systems was a rare combination in the industry, and that the technology had clear potential in domains where machines must react and adapt in real time.
Christopher Steed of Paladin Capital Group highlighted the relevance of adaptive AI for critical and security-sensitive applications.
Founded in 2023 as a spin-out from University College London and King’s College London, Stanhope AI aims to carve a niche at the intersection of robotics, industrial automation, and defense.
The new capital will help push its technology further into real-world deployments, where adaptability and resilience are often the key barriers to broader adoption.
