IBM Creates $500M Enterprise Generative AI Startup Investment Fund
IBM has announced a new $500 million venture fund focused on investing in startups developing generative AI for business uses. The IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund aims to accelerate the development and adoption of generative AI across industries and will target early to late-stage startups for both funding and long-term partnerships.
IBM Generating Funding
IBM’s investors and AI specialists will look for enterprise generative AI startups to invest in starting now. The company plans to connect with these startups through more than just a check, with plans to offer product expertise and access to IBM’s clients and channels as well. IBM has already invested in several relevant startups, including the $50 million raised by AI cybersecurity provider HiddenLayer in September and Hugging Face’s $235 million round earlier this summer. The move aligns with IBM’s efforts to capitalize on the latest wave of generative AI advancement through its watsonx generative AI platform. Most recently, IBM released the watsonx Code Assistant for developers writing software programs, employing the company’s Granite foundation models and the watsonx platform to speed up and improve the coding process for developers. IBM has also begun integrating Meta’s Llama 2 model into watsonx as a way of broadening its capabilities.
“AI is slated to unlock nearly $16 trillion in productivity by 2030. With the launch of the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund, we’re opening another channel to harness the enormous potential of the AI revolution into tangible, positive outcomes for IBM and the companies we invest in,” said IBM chief commercial officer Rob Thomas. “This fund is yet another way we’re doubling down on our commitment to responsible AI innovation through watsonx and helping organizations put this transformational technology to work.”
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