“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.” – Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, Software and Chief Commercial Officer, IBM.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has announced the launch of a $500 million venture fund aimed at investing in AI companies, spanning early-stage startups to hyper-growth enterprises, all dedicated to advancing generative AI technology and research for businesses. The IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund is unique in its approach, combining domain expertise from across IBM with a specialized portfolio development team to support AI leaders worldwide.

This fund’s mission is to enable businesses to harness the full potential of AI by providing not only financial backing but also fostering partnerships and offering operational guidance to the startups. The fund will empower these emerging AI leaders while creating long-term value for existing and new clients. With the latest advancements in generative AI and their AI and data platform, watsonx, IBM is poised to play a pivotal role in the AI revolution.

According to Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at IBM, AI has a vast potential and is projected to unlock nearly $16 trillion in productivity by 2030. The IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund is an instrumental channel to realize this potential while promoting responsible AI innovation through watsonx.

IBM’s commitment to AI investment is evident through its participation in the $235 million Series D funding round of Hugging Face, an open-source platform for the machine learning community. The company’s contributions, including the Geospatial Foundation Model in collaboration with NASA, have enriched the open-source ecosystem and accelerated AI’s democratization.

IBM also joined HiddenLayer’s Series A funding round, a leading cybersecurity company dedicated to protecting AI models and assets. This collaboration will advance secure and responsible AI while expanding market reach.

These investments build upon IBM’s momentum in AI, exemplified by the watsonx Granite model series, aimed at advancing generative AI integration into business applications. IBM is also set to host Meta’s (NASDAQ: META) Llama 2-chat 70 billion parameter model within watsonx, showcasing its commitment to open innovation.

IBM is the sole investor in Enterprise AI Venture Fund, reaffirming its dedication to fostering AI’s transformative power in the business world.

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