Artificial intelligence firm valued at £1.4bn after latest funding round

British artificial intelligence firm BenevolentAI has raised 115 million US dollars (£80.8 million) in a move valuing the group at two billion US dollars (£1.4 billion) and marking one of the largest funding rounds in the sector. BenevolentAI, which uses artificial intelligence to make new drug discoveries, secured the funding from investors largely based in the US, as well as from existing backers including star fund manager Neil Woodford's Woodford Investment Management. The latest funding round means BenevolentAI has now raised more than 200 million US dollars (£141 million) since its launch in 2013. It said it would put the latest cash towards ramping up its drug development, broadening the disease areas on which it focuses and advance these programmes to the clinic. The group – Europe's largest private AI company – will also use some of the funds to further develop its self-learning system, while also helping the firm to expand outside the pharmaceutical sector to other science-based industries, such as energy storage and agriculture.