London boy, 16, wins $1 million Silicon Valley investment for his AI startup

Toby Brown has plans to launch his AI project Beem, to the public within the next year. A teenage computer programmer who developed an AI startup in his London bedroom has secured $1 million investment from Silicon Valley. Toby Brown, 16, is set to fly to San Francisco in the next few months to join an accelerator program designed to help young businesses grow quickly.

The teenager, from Twickenham, has deferred his GCSEs until 2026 while he focuses on his AI venture and has been supported by his family, friends and his school. Upon returning to the UK, he plans to further develop his product, called Beem, with the goal of launching it to the public within the next year.

Speaking about Beem, Toby said: “It’s what we are calling an AI native computer — a computer than handles all the boring stuff, so finding files, going through your calendar or your emails, finding the right Airbnb if you’re taking a trip and it can also use the web.

“It’s built on something called proactive context which means it learns about what you do or what you like and it can remind you to do certain things.“It keeps the human in the loop as much as possible but handles all the grunt work.”

The concept for Beem was inspired by the rise of AI chatbot, Chat GPT, which can perform tasks such as answering questions, writing essays or helping with research. But what makes Toby’s platform different to others, is that Beem is optimised for humans and not for data.

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London boy, 16, wins $1 million Silicon Valley investment for his AI startup

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