UK Locai Raises £1m Pre-Seed Round Led By Fuel Ventures

Today most AI interactions rely on cloud servers, creating ongoing costs and limiting control over data. Locai addresses this by moving AI inference from the cloud directly onto users’ devices, reducing both expenses and privacy risks.

A graduate of the Google for Startups Accelerator, the company aims to replace variable API-based pricing with predictable, fixed costs.

The round was led by Fuel Ventures, with funds set to support go-to-market expansion.

Locai is targeting SaaS and desktop AI companies such as meeting tools, writing platforms, coding assistants, and customer support solutions that currently depend on cloud-based billing.

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Its goal is to help these businesses transition to a more cost-efficient, on-device AI model, appealing to CTOs, engineering leaders, and founders.

“For years, we’ve handed control of our most critical AI infrastructure to companies we don’t own and can’t influence,” says Joseph Ward, co-founder of Locai.

“Inference costs keep climbing. Services get switched off without warning. Locai exists so that developers, governments and businesses never have to accept those terms again.”