The City A.M. opinion piece, written by Dima Eremin, co-founder of AI startup Bluedot, makes the case that London can be a more attractive base for an AI company than Silicon Valley. Eremin notes that while almost 6,000 owners of high-growth UK businesses left the country between January 2024 and January 2026, his own company is moving in the opposite direction: Bluedot, which has been headquartered in the U.S. since 2021, is now moving its registered base back to the UK.
One reason is the cost and funding trade-off. Eremin argues that Silicon Valley's enormous funding ecosystem can come with substantial dilution and loss of founder control. Bluedot chose to remain largely bootstrapped because it had a clear path to profitability, and the company now generates more than $4 million in annual recurring revenue after raising just $500,000. He also points to a major salary difference: the article cites Indeed data showing average AI-engineer pay of just over £158,000 in San Francisco versus about £83,000 in London.
The strongest argument, however, is regulation and data privacy. Eremin says the UK's alignment with European GDPR principles has become a commercial advantage for Bluedot, whose AI notetaking product handles potentially sensitive conversations. The company stores customer data in Europe, and he says this has helped it win American clients that value stronger and clearer data-protection standards. In his view, regulation isn't simply a compliance cost—it can become part of an AI company's competitive positioning.
The article ultimately presents London as an alternative to the assumption that every ambitious AI startup needs to be in San Francisco. Eremin acknowledges that the U.S. remains ahead in scale and funding, but argues that lower operating costs, access to talent, founder control, privacy regulation and quality of life can make London particularly attractive for profitable or capital-efficient AI companies. His broader point is that the best location for an AI startup depends not only on access to venture capital, but also on economics, regulation, talent and the type of business being built.
