AI Trends in Established and Emerging Sectors
We highlight companies from our portfolio that are developing AI innovations across established and emerging sectors
Artificial intelligence is one of the most impactful technologies shaping the world today. Since its founding, Alumni Ventures has invested in a wide variety of AI-focused companies across all stages. From serving personalized ads to guiding autonomous vehicles on public roads, AI is used to solve some of the most challenging problems facing virtually all industries. The invaluable nature of AI has led to sustained demand from both startups and enterprise customers looking to enhance or augment their existing products. The result is a space in which profitable exits and billion-dollar valuations regularly occur, leading to increased liquidity for investors.
Our team identifies promising AI opportunities for our investors through Alumni Ventures’ internal network of ~50 experienced investment professionals and external community of more than 600,000 subscribers. We’ve identified key trends across several established and emerging sectors that we’re following as we source promising AI opportunities.
AI Fund Open Through Q1 2022
Our AI Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of ~20-30 companies applying AI, machine learning, big data, and related technologies. The fund will be invested over ~12-18 months with a large reserve (~20-25%) for follow-ons. Every investor becomes a member of the AI Venture Club, with opportunities to invest in Syndications, learn, and network.
To learn more, click below to review fund materials or connect with a Senior Partner.
Dedicated AI Hardware
With the increasing demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning, the need for specialized, AI-dedicated hardware has grown in lockstep. Phone manufacturers such as Apple and Google have integrated dedicated machine learning processors into their flagship devices, with AI allowing users to touch up pictures taken in real time and unlock devices using facial recognition. A report by Markets and Markets indicates the artificial intelligence chipset market is expected to surpass $57.8 billion by 2026, despite market headwinds caused by the global chip shortage and pandemic.
Sample AI Hardware Investments from AV’s Portfolio
The following are past investments AV has made, but reflect the types of promising companies we aim to include in this year’s AI Fund.
Groq manufactures dedicated AI silicon capable of processing massive volumes of data with extremely low latency. Read More »
Ayar Labs is optimizing AI and high-performance computing and data transmission by replacing traditional copper wires with optical interconnects. Read More »
Analog Inference is developing AI chips with far better performance per watt than traditional computing options. Read More »
Predictive Modeling and Data Analysis
One of AI’s most important applications is its ability to automate the analysis of large volumes of data that would take even the most talented team thousands of hours to process. At present, the amount of digital content produced by humans every year is a staggering 13,430,000,000 megabytes per second. Ensuring key decision-makers can extract meaningful analysis from this data has become an important application of AI.
Sample Data Analysis Investments from AV’s Portfolio
The following are past investments AV has made, but reflect the types of promising companies we aim to include in this year’s AI Fund.
Dataminr offers a real-time information discovery platform that employs AI and machine learning to detect and relay critical events for businesses and governments. Read More »
Citrine is speeding up the R&D process for large material and chemical companies by standardizing data from lab notebooks and leveraging proprietary AI and machine learning processes. Read More »
Ocient’s data analysis platform filters and computes results at rates up to trillions of rows per second, enabling organizations to harness the untapped value of their datasets. Read More »
Image Recognition and Risk Management
An area that has seen rapid growth within AI is image recognition. With digital video now ubiquitous for consumers, demand has increased across many industries and sectors for solutions that analyze footage in real time. A 2020 industry market snapshot created by Mordor Intelligence values the AI recognition market at $1.6 billion, estimating that it will hit $5.1 billion by 2026. While there is a large sector of AI dedicated to security and surveillance, other startups have targeted more niche uses of the technology to address a different set of challenges.
Sample Risk Management Investments from AV’s Portfolio
The following are past investments AV has made, but reflect the types of promising companies we aim to include in this year’s AI Fund.
Activ Surgical is the developer of an AI-augmented surgical platform, which allows minimally invasive surgical systems to autonomously collaborate with surgeons. Read More »
Chooch is taking visual AI to a new level with an end-to-end platform that can be deployed quickly at scale and adapted for multifunction capabilities. Read More »
Medivis uses AI, machine learning, and computer vision to identify pre-surgery diagnostics to augment both the visual and analytical aspects of each procedure. Read More »
Synthetic Data Generation
An important logistical aspect of developing AI is the data required to train it to improve its accuracy and capability. For example, image-recognition AI typically requires vast libraries of images to properly develop its identification capabilities. While organically created image libraries are available for training, another way to source the training data is through synthetic data generation. According to Gartner, synthetic data is estimated to overshadow real data in AI models by 2030.
Sample Synthetic Data Investments from AV’s Portfolio
The following are past investments AV has made, but reflect the types of promising companies we aim to include in this year’s AI Fund.
AI.Reverie generated fully synthetic videos and images for use in training AI algorithms before the company was acquired by Facebook in 2021. Learn More »
Hayden AI is a smart cities platform that generates digital twins to improve safety, traffic flow, and urban mobility. Learn More »
Unlearn.AI is a computational science company that builds machine learning platforms to create biological digital twins for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Learn More »
Property Management
Digital building management and property monitoring have rapidly evolved over the past two decades as technology costs have plummeted and IoT (internet of things) devices have become widely available to consumers. IoT-connected sensors provide property managers with a wide array of live data, including moisture and humidity levels, unit-level water and electricity usage, and video feeds of points of entry and common areas. However, since processing all of this data can be a challenge for management companies, property owners are increasingly turning to AI-powered solutions to make sense of this information.
Sample Property Management Investments from AV’s Portfolio
The following are past investments AV has made, but reflect the types of promising companies we aim to include in this year’s AI Fund.
Canvas is leveraging advancements in collaborative robotics and machine learning to build a new class of tools for the drywall finishing space. Read More »
Kognition.AI is the developer of an enterprise-level property security platform designed to create safer and smarter spaces. Learn More »
Life House Hotels has developed a hotel software platform driven by automated financial accounting and reporting tools, AI-driven pricing, and an employee-facing property management system. Learn More »
Investing in AI’s Future
Alumni Ventures continues to monitor opportunities to invest in AI-powered solutions across a variety of industries. With entrepreneurs and innovators pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with artificial intelligence, our team will be there to help the most promising realize their visions and provide our customers access to these opportunities. Those looking to invest in the transformative potential of this technology might want to explore Alumni Ventures’ AI Fund. We offer a portfolio of ~20-30 AI and machine learning investments diversified by stage, geography, lead investor, and specific focus. We invite you to access fund materials or book a call with our team.
AI Fund Open Through Q1 2022
Our AI Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of ~20-30 companies applying AI, machine learning, big data, and related technologies. The fund will be invested over ~12-18 months with a large reserve (~20-25%) for follow-ons. Every investor becomes a member of the AI Venture Club, with opportunities to invest in Syndications, learn, and network.
To learn more, click below to review fund materials or connect with a Senior Partner.
Contact [email protected] for additional information. To see additional risk factors and investment considerations, visit av-funds.com/disclosures.