China private equity firm buys into UK AI talent

China’s third-largest private equity firm CSC Group is helping to fund an artificial intelligence incubator in Britain, the latest sign of a boom in Chinese tech investments abroad and of the tapping of the UK’s AI talent. The Financial Times reports the Chinese state-backed fund, which has more than $12bn under management, has agreed a multimillion-pound partnership with British start-up incubator Founders Factory, led by entrepreneur and investor Brent Hoberman. Together, they will hire 60 people, invest in and grow five early-stage AI start-ups and launch two companies from scratch each year. British AI expertise has been particularly attractive to international companies. In 2014, Google paid $400m for DeepMind, a London start-up that is now arguably a world leader in AI, with a team of more than 250 academic experts.