Your Window Into the Innovation Economy

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.

India is a burgeoning e-commerce hot spot. In addition to boasting the fourth largest retail market globally at $810 billion, the country also ranks second globally in terms of internet and smartphone users. However, although India ranks high in internet activity and retail, most local neighborhood shops (where a majority of retail occurs) do not have an online presence.

Life expectancy has increased rapidly since the early 19th century — more than doubling from 30 to 70 years of age. However, even though advancements in medicine have significantly improved longevity, chronic diseases from aging still account for more than 70% of deaths worldwide. With this, the treatment and prevention of age-related conditions offer a vast market opportunity.

A fireplace, rocking chair, and a mild case of COVID — in other words, a quiet/quarantined moment to reflect on the numbers, people, and photos that shaped 116 Street in 2021.

A fireplace, a rocking chair, and a mild case of COVID — in other words, a quiet/quarantined moment to reflect on the numbers, people, and photos that shaped Waterman in 2021.

Remote work can make organizations more vulnerable to cyberattacks due to the security risks of an employee’s home (or coffee shop) network. This problem is expected to accelerate in a post-COVID world, with IoT cyberattacks alone forecasted to double by 2025. With the increase in remote work, the importance of low friction cybersecurity for organizations is at an all-time high.

Mark Edwards is a seasoned private equity executive who was an early investor in AV and has served on the investment committees of Green D Ventures and Spike Ventures since inception.

At the height of the global pandemic in 2020, every facet of the internet’s underlying infrastructure was pushed to its limit. Lockdowns and quarantines had pushed people onto the internet in record numbers, as doctor’s visits, work, and even happy hours were pushed online. Comcast reported an increase of 32% of its total traffic, with VOIP calls increasing by 212% from the same time in 2019. It became glaringly obvious to anyone whose video call was dropped or whose Netflix stream was left buffering indefinitely that the internet was buckling under the increased demand.

AVTV features Tango, a workflow intelligence software platform designed to create step-by-step documentation with screenshots, in seconds. AVTV videos feature Alumni Ventures’ portfolio companies sharing their stories and asks with our community.