The daughter-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will head the Government’s taxpayer-backed £500million Sovereign AI fund.
Suzanne Ashman, who married Euan Blair in 2013, will join the fund as a managing partner, the firm announced on Tuesday.
The 37-year-old venture capitalist previously worked as a general partner at two London-based venture capital firms, LocalGlobe and Latitude. She will lead investments with the goal of boosting ‘homegrown’ AI companies in the new role.
The Government’s Sovereign AI fund, launched in April, is a £500million state-backed investment initiative which aims to grow the UK’s AI startups in order to reduce dependence on foreign tech giants.
The company said: ‘Suzanne is one of the most respected venture investors in the UK’, adding: ‘She has spent a decade backing the founders who have come to define a generation of British technology from Tessian to Open Cosmos.
‘Suzanne’s arrival marks a significant moment for the team. Suzanne will work alongside Joséphine Kant and the wider Ventures team to expand Sovereign AI’s footprint across the UK AI ecosystem, drawing on the unique blend of capital, compute, and state capacity that only Sovereign AI can bring.’
Sovereign AI typically invests between £1million and £20million into businesses. The company stated that it had raised around £1.5billion from investors including Thrive Capital and Abu Dhabi’s MGX.
British businesswoman Ms Ashman is married to Euan Blair – son of the former Labour PM Tony Blair – who is also a well-known figure in British tech.
Suzanne Ashman (pictured) has joined the government-backed Sovereign AI fund
Ms Ashman married former British PM Tony Blair’s eldest son, Euan Blair, in 2013
Suzanne married Euan at the Blair family mansion in Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire, in 2013 after seven years together.
Her then stepmother, former ITV weather girl Sian Lloyd, was reportedly ‘disinvited’ from the nuptials amid rumours that her anti-Iraq War stance was an issue.
In 2017, Ms Ashman, the daughter of motor-racing entrepreneur Jonathan Ashman, usurped her husband on the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list.
Suzanne Ashman posted on her LinkedIn on Tuesday: ‘Excited to share that I’ll be joining the new Sovereign AI Fund as Managing Partner.
‘Britain already produces world-class AI founders and researchers. The challenge is helping more of them build enduring global companies from the UK.
‘I’m excited to help build a fund that backs those founders building strategically important parts of the AI stack – providing capital, access to compute, procurement pathways and long-term institutional support.
‘And one that aims to deliver meaningful returns for the British taxpayer alongside broader national capability. I don’t see those goals as being in tension.’
She added: ‘I’m looking forward to working with the team to build it. And I’m very grateful to the many founders, colleagues and friends who’ve shaped my thinking over the years, especially at Phoenix Court. Lots more to come.’
Ms Ashman’s husband Euan (pictured) is also a high profile figure in the UK tech scene, founding the UK’s largest apprenticeship provider Multiverse
Prime Minister Tony Blair poses with wife Cherie, Baby Leo, Nicky, Kathryn and Euan June 8 2001 outside 10 Downing Street after Labour’s General Election win
Euan Blair founded the country’s largest apprenticeship provider, Multiverse, in 2016, which was valued at £1.4billion in 2022.
But Euan’s company faced difficulties last month after the firm was accused of placing young people on ill-suited apprenticeships as part of an ‘aggressive’ push to sign up more learners.
Read More
Euan Blair’s £1.4bn firm is accused of ‘aggressive’ push to get people on ill-suited apprenticeships
Multiverse uses software to match apprentices with corporate giants such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Pfizer and Net-a-Porter where they can learn while being paid.
It has been recognised as one of the world’s fastest-growing tech firms after being valued at £1.4billion in 2022, with Euan Blair himself owning an almost 19 per cent stake.
But the firm has recently faced scrutiny after figures revealed only half of its apprentices complete their courses and it is currently being inspected by Ofsted, despite being rated as ‘outstanding’ only five years ago.
In further turmoil for Blair’s business, it was reported that bosses were co-ordinating an ‘aggressive’ push to sign up large numbers of learners for courses in a bid to fill more seats.
There have reportedly been cases of NHS workers undertaking data focused programmes, while a security guard was supposedly enrolled on an AI course.
A funeral plan consultant also complained that her data apprenticeship was ‘not relevant’ to her role and therefore quit the course as it was taking up time from her ‘busy work schedule’.
Multiverse has reportedly claimed that role fit criteria are applied to its courses as part of the onboarding process and it was unaware of any case where this had not been implemented.
In a blog posted on the company’s website on April 14, Euan Blair admitted that the company’s completion rates were too low and he wants them higher.
‘Our highest-level programmes complete at c.70 per cent, our software developer programmes complete above 80 per cent, and our data degree apprenticeship has topped the National Student Survey for satisfaction two years running,’ he pointed out.
Blair added that even those who withdraw from its AI courses, 70 per cent have already ‘generated measurable value for their employer’, adding that a ‘pay rise or promotion during or after the programme is the majority outcome for our learners’.
