IBM invests $500M into AI venture fund

IBM has recently launched a $500 million venture fund dedicated to enterprise AI. The fund, according to a press release, aims to boost innovation and produce returns by investing in startups that accelerate generative AI technology and research for businesses.

Managed by a group of seasoned investors and AI specialists from IBM, the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund is aiming to support and invest in AI pioneers who can help companies globally realize AI’s potential. The fund’s investment model and strategy depend on IBM’s vast domain knowledge and dedicated portfolio development team, allowing startups to build significant partnerships with IBM and gain operational knowledge in product development, engineering, and market-entry strategies.

IBM has been providing enterprise AI technology for a long time and continues to keep pace with the current AI innovation trends through its AI and data platform, watsonx. The new venture fund will enable IBM to broaden its AI collaborations, working closely with companies that utilize and develop based on watsonx.

Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, Software and Chief Commercial Officer at IBM, stated, “AI could potentially lead to an approximate $16 trillion increase in productivity by 2030.” He adds that the venture fund is a part of IBM’s strategic effort to translate AI’s immense potential into practical, positive benefits for both IBM and the companies in which it invests.

Recently, IBM has shown its dedication to enhancing AI for business by investing in AI technologies and related companies. For example, it was involved in the $235M Series D funding round of Hugging Face, an important platform for the machine learning community contributing to AI’s future. IBM’s partnership with Hugging Face led to the release of the Geospatial Foundation Model in collaboration with NASA, marking the first open-source AI foundation model developed in partnership with NASA.

The launch of the new fund builds upon the momentum of IBM’s watsonx adoption, reinforcing IBM’s strategy of using its own and third-party AI models to encourage open innovation in AI. IBM is currently the only investor in the Enterprise AI Venture Fund.