Google Cloud has announced a new initiative specifically tailored for UK-based startups, offering a 12-week equity-free accelerator program aimed at seed to series companies focused on AI.

This initiative, developed in partnership with Tech London Advocates, will offer selected startups technical and strategic guidance, access to AI and ML resources, and integration into Google Cloud’s global partner ecosystem.

In addition, the program includes up to ￡280,000 in cloud credits, previously introduced under Google Cloud’s ‘Gemini for UK’ initiative this year.

The company noted that since 2023, more than 60% of generative AI startups in the UK have chosen Google Cloud as their platform.

During its Google Cloud Summit London 2025, the company also unveiled enhanced data residency guarantees for UK businesses utilizing its Gemini AI services. Organizations can now opt to process data exclusively within the UK using Gemini 2.5 Flash Machine Learning.

This announcement expands upon earlier commitments to ensuring UK data residency for Agentspace, its AI agent development program, as well as similar support for Gemini 1.5 Flash machine learning.

“We recognize that you have specific sovereignty requirements, and our solutions are being built to ensure that regardless of your sector, you remain in control,” stated Hayete Gallot, president of Customer Experience at Google Cloud.

Google Cloud currently provides Google Cloud Data Boundary, which allows users to manage data residency and encryption key storage locations, Google Cloud Dedicated—a suite of region-specific solutions operated by local partners—and Google Cloud Air Gapped, designed for handling sensitive workloads in mission-critical industries.

At the event, Lyndsay Yerbic, head of Cloud AI, Field Solution Architecture, UK&I at Google Cloud, demonstrated how Agentspace empowers users to rapidly build custom AI agents.

By enabling Agentspace processing to be restricted to UK-based data centers, the solution supports firms with strict residency policies, especially those operating in highly regulated sectors like finance.

UK AI showcased at Google Cloud Summit London

Throughout the Google Cloud Summit London 2025, the tech giant is highlighting how its AI tools can deliver real-world benefits to UK businesses.

During the opening keynote session, participants learned how Starling Bank is leveraging Google Gemini to drive its new ‘Spending Intelligence’ feature. This AI-powered service enables customers to analyze their spending behavior using natural language or voice commands—such as asking how much they spent on travel last week.

“From my perspective as CIO, it was crucial that I could provide clear assurances to both myself and our customers regarding where their data would be stored and how it would be handled, and that we could clearly communicate this to them,” said Harriet Rees, CIO at Starling Bank.

“I can confidently say that, in my experience, Google was the first cloud provider that could offer me those assurances, making them the obvious choice for advancing our AI strategy.”

Stay updated with php.cn on Google News for all the latest news, expert analysis, and reviews.

The above is the detailed content of Google Cloud announces new data residency flexibility for UK firms, accelerator for regional startups. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!