PhysicsX, a London company founded in 2019 by former Formula 1 engineer Robin Tuluie and Jacomo Corbo, closed a $300m Series C on 8 June at a $2.4bn valuation, more than double its prior round1. Singapore's sovereign fund Temasek led; M&G Investments and Intrepid Growth Partners came in new, with Atomico, Nvidia, Siemens, Applied Materials and General Catalyst following on.
PhysicsX builds AI that replaces the engineering simulations carmakers, aircraft makers and chip designers normally run over hours or days, collapsing them to seconds. It was the week's largest private round, and no UK state vehicle appears on the cap table. That absence has become the pattern. Orbital Industries pulled $50m a fortnight ago with no British lead either.
Britain's biggest rounds are now underwritten by Singapore, Silicon Valley and allied national-security funds, not by the £6.6bn the British Business Bank has to spend. The state development bank sits a tier below where the marquee rounds actually close, so the upside on the country's largest scale-ups accrues to foreign cap tables. A founder reading the cap table learns where the cheque that clears a nine-figure round actually comes from, and it is not Sheffield or London.
