Runway has chosen London as the location for its European headquarters, committing $200 million to the UK.

      The AI video company, supported by Nvidia, is establishing its European headquarters in London, joining Anthropic and OpenAI in this move, with notable clients including the BBC, Fremantle, and WPP. Runway announced to CNBC on Monday that it intends to invest over $200 million into the UK’s AI ecosystem by the end of 2028. The New York-based firm, recognized for its AI video tools that are now utilized in film and advertising, becomes the latest American AI company to take a significant step in the British capital.

      The decision is influenced by the proximity to existing customers who are already using their products. Anastasis Germanidis, co-founder and co-CEO of the company, stated that being in London “puts us close to many of our largest European customers already doing serious work with Runway, including the BBC, Fremantle, and WPP, and it builds on the research team we already have here.” The new hub will enhance the research presence Runway has been developing in the city, rather than starting anew.

      It’s important to note that Runway is not a British company; it is headquartered in New York and recently raised $315 million in a Series E round led by General Atlantic, which valued the company at $5.3 billion. Nvidia participated in this funding round, along with AMD Ventures, Fidelity, Adobe Ventures, and others. The involvement of the chipmaker is a common theme in several recent announcements regarding London; Runway also operates its newer world-model work on Nvidia’s hardware.

      The world models represent Runway’s future direction. Initially focusing on video-generation and editing tools, specifically the Gen-series models that create short clips from text or images, the company has since broadened its goal to build AI that emulates the physical world, with potential applications in film, gaming, science, and robotics. This effort positions the firm in direct competition with companies like Google.

      Runway’s move to London fits into a larger trend. Anthropic is expanding its presence across several European capitals and recently announced office space in London for approximately 800 employees, just after OpenAI revealed its first permanent office in the city. The attraction to London comes from both the available talent pool, which Runway explicitly mentioned, and the British government’s ongoing initiative to establish the country as a prime location for AI research. For now, the labs have complied with this vision.

      Runway is not the first Nvidia-backed company to announce a similar expansion; in December, Luma AI, another video and world-model startup, revealed its own expansion into London, again with Nvidia as an investor. This pattern is more of a result of Nvidia’s investments and the UK’s strategy that has been actively attracting its portfolio companies.

      However, Runway has not provided details on how the $200 million investment will be allocated, the number of hires planned, or the timeline beyond the 2028 deadline. The company has indicated that it anticipates further expansion across Europe in the future, but for now, it has shared a city, an investment figure, and a deadline, leaving the specifics for a later date.