11 July (Reuters) – Sapphire Ventures plans to invest more than $1 billion in AI startups to double the adoption of the technology by companies around the world, said company president Jay Jay. Das said at the Reuters Momentum conference in Austin on Tuesday.
The $1 billion of capital will be raised from Sapphire’s exiting fund, which manages $10 billion of capital, with approximately $3 billion of capital awaiting deployment. Most of the capital will be direct investment in AI startups, but some capital will also go to early-stage AI-focused venture funds through limited partner funds.
“AI is truly transformative because it impacts how new software is built,” said Sapphire’s Jai Das. “This is not just a monetary promise, it is also a promise to build the infrastructure in-house to help AI companies succeed.”
Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT late last year, the generative AI technology powering chatbots has sparked an investment frenzy among VCs and big tech companies. According to PitchBook data, over $40 billion has been invested in his AI startups in the past six months, nearly a quarter of all startup funding.
This wave of investment collides with global companies seeking ways to proactively adopt AI technology to increase internal efficiency and improve their products, keeping data privacy and safety concerns in mind. To do.
Based in Palo Alto, California, Sapphire has invested in AI-powered enterprise startups such as Clari and DataRobot. He says he wants to help companies that focus on software and make AI easily accessible by leveraging the data at hand to better predict outcomes.
Reported by Crystal Hu of Austin.Editing: David Evans
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
