MANCHESTER, NH / ACCESSWIRE / March 1, 2023 / With the recent focus on ChatGPT, and the applications derived from its impressive functionality, AI is a main topic in boardrooms and businesses across the world, regardless of sector. Alumni Ventures, the #1 most active venture firm in the US in 2022 (PitchBook), notes that the world of AI is brimming with potential for not only companies but also investors and entrepreneurs. From fintech utilizing machine learning (ML) to process vast amounts of data, to tech giants developing AI hardware for autonomous vehicles, there is no shortage of opportunities to explore. Funding for AI startups has skyrocketed in recent years, with revenue from AI software companies nearly tripling from 2018 to 2021 (according to Statista). With the global market value for AI projected to reach nearly $300 billion by 2026, investing in AI at the right time with the right team has the potential to generate outsized returns --- while supporting fundamental changes across a wide range of industries.

Expanding exposure to this potential growth and innovation, Alumni Ventures provides investors with the opportunity to invest in the AI space. The Alumni Ventures AI Fund is a targeted venture fund that invests in companies utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to innovate in various sectors. The fund is targeted to make around 20-30 venture investments in a span of 12-18 months, diversified by sector, stage, geography, and lead investor. To hedge against the various risks involved in early venture investing, the fund reserves approximately 20% of its capital to pursue follow-on opportunities in the most promising investments in the portfolio.

The fund is managed, and opportunities are sourced, by a team of investing professionals from across Alumni Ventures. Three portfolio companies sourced by these Alumni Ventures professionals, namely Canvas, FarmWise, and Verge Genomics, have made it to Forbes' AI 50 List, an annual list highlighting leading privately-held North American companies focused on AI.* The recognition of these companies reflects the growth of the sector and individual growth-poised AI companies. For example, Canvas is a construction robotics company that uses AI/ML to automate drywall installation, while FarmWise uses autonomous AI-enabled robots for organic farming. Verge Genomics employs AI/ML to accelerate drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases. Alumni Ventures has been involved in the funding of these companies in their Series A, A-1, and B rounds.* By investing in AI companies across industry verticals, the firm is able to diversify risk while gaining important insights into the overall AI landscape and the kinds of opportunities available.

Alumni Ventures' experienced investment professionals continue to closely monitor key AI trends to identify promising opportunities. Their top six AI investing trends for 2023 reflect the growing interest and investment in AI, machine learning, and big data. These trends include AI's integration into core business models, the creation of new AI tools, its application in medicine and therapeutics, generative content creation, data analysis in the Web3 space, and improving cybersecurity. As AI continues to prove itself as a transformative technology, its potential for solving complex problems across a variety of industries is increasingly attractive to investors and entrepreneurs seeking strong returns and performance.

Delivering Performance with AI: Alumni Ventures' Investments

Alumni Ventures has invested in many promising AI startups over the last few years, listing three notable examples below*:

• Nomad Data is an AI-driven marketplace for critical business data, helping companies navigate the overwhelming amount of alternative data available. Nomad simplifies the process of sourcing, aggregating, and analyzing data, which is crucial for enterprise success. This makes it easier for data customers to access niche data at a moment's notice and saves them countless hours of manual searching for data vendors. With over 2,000 data sources, Nomad's platform offers a win-win solution for both data buyers and sellers, as its algorithm automatically matches clients' data requests with providers. The affinity-based Castor Fund and Ring Fund, as well as the Total Access Fund, all under the umbrella of Alumni Ventures, invested a total of $4.8 million in the seed and pre-seed rounds into Nomad Data. Aside from the clear potential of the platform, the firm also found the impressive expansion, experienced founder (Brad Schneider), and well-established lead investors to be compelling within the AI space.

• Hayden AI has developed an autonomous perception system to tackle traffic safety and enforcement in cities. Their technology uses mobile sensors and traffic data to create real-time digital twins of cities, allowing for the simulation of traffic scenarios and the provision of actionable insights. By automating traffic enforcement, municipalities and police departments can focus on more important work. Hayden AI has raised more than $30 million since 2020 and rapidly expanded their team over the last year. The company has also made significant efforts to ensure that their machine learning models were not biased. Hayden AI partnered with Alumni Ventures, in part, due to their shared connection to university alumni communities.

• Analog Inference is a tech company revolutionizing edge AI by providing a superior alternative to existing digital computing solutions. Its AI chips offer an order-of-magnitude better performance per watt and enable the running of data-center-grade neural nets at the edge. One of Analog's initial target markets is video, and it has engagements with prominent companies across the surveillance, autonomous vehicles, edge-cloud inference, and mobile phone industries. Analog is backed by an established investor syndicate, including Khosla Ventures, and has a team with deep technical expertise in semiconductors, AI, and analog computing. Alumni Ventures sponsored the company's $10.6 million Series A investment round, securing an allocation through a connection with Khosla.

Not only are venture capital firms investing in AI, but they're also leveraging it and other machine-learning tools to help them make better, faster, more informed decisions. Alumni Ventures has made significant strides in this area, strengthening its technology capabilities with the hiring of Andrew Ressler, a highly qualified CTO with a Ph.D. in AI, and expanding the engineering and data analytics team. The firm has embraced cutting-edge AI tools, including ChatGPT, as an early adopter, and has already seen promising results. As part of its long-term goals, Alumni Ventures remains committed to investing in technology as a critical pillar of its growth strategy.

When ChatGPT went live in December 2022, it was reported to be the fastest application to reach 1 Million users ever. With a growing number of capabilities available with AI technology, and the increased number of use cases where machine learning is applicable, Alumni Ventures doesn't see growth or investment in this sector slowing down any time soon. Investing in AI-based companies now could pay dividends in the years to come.

About Alumni Ventures

Alumni Ventures offers accredited individuals access to network-powered venture capital - a key asset class missing from the portfolios of many sophisticated investors.

*For illustrative purposes only. No representation is intended that any of the investments or co-investors shown are representative of the holdings of any AV fund or the outcomes experienced by any AV investor. The investments shown are not available for future investment, except through potential follow-on investments. Venture capital investing involves significant risk, including risk of loss of all capital invested. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

CONTACT:

Andrew Mitchell
media@cambridgeglobal.com

SOURCE: Alumni Ventures

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