IBM announced that it is launching a $500 million venture fund to invest in a range of AI companies—from early-stage to hyper-growth startups—focused on accelerating generative AI technology and research for the enterprise.
According to the company, with a differentiated model and strategy consisting of domain expertise from across IBM and a dedicated portfolio development team, the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund will invest in current and future AI leaders that are helping businesses around the world realize the potential of AI for business.
Led by a dedicated team at IBM with decades of combined experience as highly successful investors and enterprise AI experts, the fund will provide each startup with opportunities to develop meaningful partnerships with IBM, while gaining operational expertise on product and engineering and go-to-market strategies.
IBM has a long history of bringing proven enterprise AI technology and capabilities to organizations around the world and is capitalizing on the latest wave of AI innovation in generative AI with watsonx, the company's AI and data platform.
With the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund, the company will grow its ecosystem of AI partnerships—including working with companies leveraging and building on watsonx—and create long-term value for AI leaders as well as new and existing clients.
"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 Rob Thomas, senior vice president, software and chief commercial officer, IBM. "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."
According to the company, this news builds on the momentum and market adoption of IBM's watsonx and furthers the company's strategy of leveraging both third-party and its own AI models to accelerate open innovation in AI.
For more information about this news, visit www.ibm.com.