July is here, and it’s a busy month for video game releases. 2026 has been the year of quality launches, and the Game of the Year field is already stacked. Last month, Death Stranding 2 launched exclusively on PS5 and became one of the highest rated games of the year. This month’s biggest release is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo’s second major first-party release on the Switch 2, arrives July 17.
A little before that, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 arrives on PC and consoles on July 11. The game bundles remakes of two classic Tony Hawk Pro Skater titles in a single package. The skateboarding title will also be available on Game Pass day one. Microsoft’s game subscription service will also get Grounded 2 later this month. Sequel to 2022’s Grounded, the action-adventure game will be released in early access on July 29.
Other releases in June include Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV, which brings the party game released on the original Switch in 2024 to the Switch 2 in an upgraded edition. A new Lord of the Rings game arrives this month, as well. Tales of the Shire is a life simulation game set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. July will also see the launch of Wuchang: Fallen Features, a Soulslike action title from Chinese developer Leenzee. The game arrives on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X on July 24. Here’s our picks for the biggest games of July across PC, PlayStation Xbox and Switch.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4
When: July 11
Where: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
Just like 2020’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 before it, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 overhauls two classic Tony Hawk titles for modern platforms. Pro Skater 3 and 4 have been remade, featuring mechanical and graphical improvements. The game features all the original maps, plus some new ones. Players can create their custom skate parks, as well, now with more design tools at their disposal.
The arcade approach to core skateboarding gameplay remains the same. Players must perform a combination of tricks, flips, grinds and other flashy moves to rack up points in a level. The goal is to look as cool as possible and pull off the slickest moves. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is set to be a nostalgic return to the skate park.
Patapon 1 + 2 Replay
When: July 11
Where: Nintendo Switch, PS5, PC
Dive into this popular rhythm-based action adventure from Sony, which lets you play as the Patapon tribe, fight other armies and monsters, in the quest to find Earthend. You’ll be marching to the beat with Patapon 1 + 2 Replay, which offers stunning 4K visuals and enhanced audio of the original title and its sequel. If you’ve played Patapon titles before, you already know the drill. You must control your Patapon warriors using drum commands, which must be timed perfectly.
Over the course of the game, you’ll gain access to new Patapon classes, powerful weapons and armour. You can also customise your army based on upcoming challenges. Whether you’re a seasoned Patapon strategist or trying out the game for the first time, the remastered Patapon 1 + 2 Replay will have you yelling “pata-pata-pata-pon!” in no time.
Donkey Kong Bananza
When: July 17
Where: Nintendo Switch 2
The Switch 2 went on sale in June with only one major first-party title available at launch: Mario Kart World. This month, the new console is getting Donkey Kong Bananza, an action-adventure platformer that features destructible environments. This is the first Donkey Kong game since 2014’s Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and the expectations couldn’t be higher. It has been developed by the same Nintendo EPD team that made Super Mario Odyssey, which remains one of the best games of the 2010s. And with the dearth of new games on the Switch 2, Donkey Kong Bananza is set to become the flagship title on the platform.
At its core, it’s a 3D platformer with a focus on puzzles and destructible environments. As Donkey Kong, you can smash through terrain and chart your way to hidden areas of the map to find collectibles and take on new challenges. The goal is to collect as many Banandium Gems as possible while exploring each level. In many ways, the game seems to be a spiritual successor to Super Mario Odyssey. That’s a comparison that only bodes well for the upcoming game. If Donkey Kong Bananza manages to capture the magic of Super Mario Odyssey, it will likely end up being the best game of 2025.
Shadow Labyrinth
When: July 18
Where: PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Switch, PC
For decades, Namco’s Pac-Man has been a fan favourite among gamers of all ages, cementing its status as one of the most iconic arcade games of all time. Shadow Labyrinth, developed by Bandai Namco Studios, reimagines the beloved classic with a dark, genre-blending twist. You play as Swordsman No. 8, revived by Puck (yes, the familiar floating yellow orb) on a desolate alien world. To evolve from prey to predator, you must follow Puck’s will, leading you to uncover hidden truths and consume your enemies.
To survive in the hostile world of Shadow Labyrinth, you’ll need to learn the history of a long-forgotten interstellar war, unlock powerful abilities, and master fast-paced combat to shape your own fighting style. As you carve your path forward with Puck, you’ll eventually confront Puck to uncover its true motives and the reason behind your resurrection.
Monument Valley 3
When: July 22
Where: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Switch, PC
Developed by Ustwo Games, Monument Valley 3 allows players to step into the role of Noor, an apprentice on a mission to push back a creeping darkness over the world and uncover the secrets of the mysterious “Sacred Light.” Along the way, Noor must rescue lost souls and bring them to a seaside village that serves as a home base. Dominated by a towering lighthouse, this refuge holds hidden secrets of its own.
The game preserves the franchise’s signature art style, soothing soundtrack, and intuitive touch controls. As you guide Noor on her quest to stop the world from slipping into darkness, you’ll navigate mind-bending optical illusions and solve intricate puzzles. Along the way, new mechanics become available, allowing you to explore geometric landscapes and reshape architecture to reveal hidden paths.
Super Mario Party Jamboree Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV
When: July 24
Where: Nintendo Switch 2
The Nintendo Switch 2 is only a couple of months old, and we’ve seen a steady stream of new titles for the handheld console. The Mario party is set to get bigger with Nintendo’s Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV, which is coming to the Switch 2 later this month. It features five game boards, including a vibrant theme park and a pirate ship. You’ll also feel nostalgic, thanks to boards from previous Mario Party titles that are also part of this release.
With the Jamboree TV online mode, you can compete in over 110 mini games with up to 20 players in the high-stakes Bowser’s Gauntlet challenge. You can challenge your friends locally, or make it a global party, filled with chaos and excitement. If you recently purchased a Switch 2, this is the Mario party experience that you might want to try on your new console.
Killing Floor 3
When: July 24
Where: PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC
Developed by Tripwire Interactive, Killing Floor 3 is a first-person survival horror game, similar to its predecessors. It is promised to give us more gore, with more destruction and more bloodshed than ever before. The game was initially planned to release in March this year, but the developers delayed it to account for feedback from a closed beta test group. The refreshed product, therefore, is high on the radar for fans of the franchise and general gaming enthusiasts alike.
In this game, set in the year 2091, you find yourself battling against evolved and obedient bioengineered zeds, deadlier than ever, with more strength and resilience. As a member of the Nightfall resistance, you will team up with up to five allies to defend the last remnants of humanity. To do that, you will have a diverse range of weapons. You will also be able to customise your arsenal with different modifications.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
When: July 24
Where: PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC
The search for the next challenge is something every Soulslike fan understands. Last year, Black Myth Wukong scratched that itch for many gamers with its heavy storyline-focused narrative. But if you’ve mastered all the moves and memorised all the attack patterns of the bosses, there is a new challenge in town. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is set in late Ming Dynasty China and brings a dark and supernatural twist.
Developed by Leenzee (Chengdu) and published by 505 Games, the game puts you in the shoes of Bai Wuchang, a female pirate warrior who is suffering from the mysterious Feathering disease. This disease is also a new gameplay element, and when you are afflicted by it, you get extra power but also take more damage.
Since it is a Soulslike, the primary game mechanic is based on precision combat with a focus on dodging (similar to Black Myth Wukong), and there are 25 different weapons and more than 40 spells to choose your playstyle. Apart from that, there is an individual skill tree to grind for, and a cool game mechanic that lets you harvest enemy power by killing them. Stockpiling abilities have never been this fun! So, if you’re looking for your next Soulslike adventure, Wuchang just might be it.
Grounded 2
When: July 29
Where: PC, Xbox Series S/X
Announced at last month’s Xbox Games Showcase, Grounded 2 arrives in early access on PC and Xbox Series S/X later this month. While a full release will come later, the early access version should give players a well-rounded experience with the sequel. Just like the first game, Grounded 2 is essentially Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the video game. Players will take control of tiny humans who must survive the regular-sized dangers of the world that appear gigantic to them.
Grounded 2 takes place in Brookhollow Park, a fictional suburban setting from the 1990s. This time, players will be able to tame and ride giant insects. You can jump in solo or play with friends in co-op, craft weapons and build a base, Grounded 2 will also be available on Game Pass when it arrives in early access on July 29.
Tales of the Shire
When: July 29
Where: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch
Set in the world of J R R Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Tales of the Shire is a simulation game that lets you step into the shoes of a Hobbit, and spend your days in the Shire. You’ll get a chance to customise your character, before you begin your life in the Bywater village, located in the Shire. After that’s done, there’s a lot of work to do, including tending to your garden, going fishing, and even cooking some food after gathering ingredients.
Over the course of time, you can customise and personalise your home, as you settle into your life in the village. Tales of the Shire offers you the chance to befriend familiar characters and assist them, or participate in local festivals. If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan and wished you could live in the Shire, this title might finally give you the opportunity to start your own Hobbit adventure.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
When: July 31
Where: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Switch, PC
If you remember the original NES trilogy, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound will definitely tickle your fancy. Developed by The Game Kitchen and published by Dotemu, the new installment of the game comes 34 years after the last game. Ragebound follows right after the trilogy as Ryu Hayabusa departs for America, leaving behind his village vulnerable to demonic invasion.
The primary protagonist of the story is Kenji Mozu, a young ninja from the Hayabusa Clan who was trained by Ryu, and now he must rise to the occasion and protect the village. The 2D side-scrolling action platformer features game mechanics such as precision combat, wall-climbs, ceiling traversal, dodge rolls,
With Ragebound, gamers will also find dual-character combats with weapon sharing, and a Ki-based Ragebound state that allows you to fuse the two characters. So, if you’re a fan of pixel-art and fluid frame-to-frame transitions, and reminisce about the original NES trilogy, you will definitely love playing this game.
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#Donkey #Kong #Bananza #Grounded #Biggest #Games #July
![This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch
What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?
The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details.
The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there.
This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.
Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.
Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?
“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.” Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.
There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around .1 billion out of the .8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me. That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.
Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.
Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a .3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.
“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.”
Image Credits:Phoenix Court
Top founders want to stay
Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said. Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.
“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said. Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia.
Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said.
Image Credits:Synthesia
Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up.
“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/DM9A2852.jpg?w=680 "This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch
What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?
The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details.
The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there.
This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.
Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.
Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?
“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.” Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.
There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around .1 billion out of the .8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me. That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.
Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.
Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a .3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.
“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.”
Image Credits:Phoenix Court
Top founders want to stay
Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said. Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.
“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said. Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia.
Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said.
Image Credits:Synthesia
Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up.
“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK")
![This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch
What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?
The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details.
The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there.
This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.
Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.
Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?
“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.” Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.
There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around .1 billion out of the .8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me. That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.
Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.
Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a .3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.
“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.”
Image Credits:Phoenix Court
Top founders want to stay
Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said. Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.
“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said. Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia.
Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said.
Image Credits:Synthesia
Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up.
“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK](https://i0.wp.com/techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/DM9A2852.jpg?w=680&ssl=1 "This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch
What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?
The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details.
The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there.
This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.
Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.
Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?
“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.” Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.
There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around .1 billion out of the .8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me. That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.
Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.
Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a .3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.
“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.”
Image Credits:Phoenix Court
Top founders want to stay
Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said. Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.
“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said. Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia.
Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said.
Image Credits:Synthesia
Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up.
“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”
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