Literal Labs Secures £4.6m Seed Investment Led by Northern Gritstone

Northern Gritstone has spearheaded a £4.6 million seed investment into Literal Labs, a Newcastle University AI spinout company. Led by ex-Arm executive Noel Hurley and co-founded by Dr. Alex Yakovlev and Dr. Rishad Shafik, Literal Labs utilizes the Tsetlin machine approach to develop AI models that are faster, more explainable, and considerably more energy-efficient than traditional neural networks. The company's technology claims to achieve inferencing up to 54 times faster while consuming 52 times less energy compared to conventional methods. This investment is Northern Gritstone's first engagement with Newcastle University, renowned for its cutting-edge technology research. The seed round also saw participation from Mercuri, Sure Valley Ventures, Cambridge Future Tech SPV, and several angel investors. Literal Labs plans to use the funding to expedite product development and bring its first product to market within the year. CEO of Northern Gritstone, Duncan Johnson, expressed enthusiasm for supporting Literal Labs at a time when AI's efficiency is under increasing scrutiny.