Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of US-based cloud computing platform Salesforce, has launched a $50m vehicle targeting startups in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
The Salesforce AI Innovation Fund will seek out startups that are developing AI products built on top of the corporate’s platform.
The fund has already made its first three investments, two of which had been disclosed previously though Salesforce did not reveal at the time it was investing through the AI Innovation Fund.
US-based sales support technology developer Highspot raised $15m in a series B round in July 2017 from Salesforce Ventures’s new fund and Shasta Ventures, which led the round, as well as Madrona Venture Group.
Switzerland-based data management software developer Squirro received $10m in series B funding in July 2017 that included the AI Innovation Fund and was led by Orange Growth Capital. Unnamed existing investors also contributed to that round.
US-based speech recognition platform TalkIQ secured $14m in series A capital yesterday in a round led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from Salesforce Ventures’s artificial intelligence fund, internet company Line, Aspect Ventures, Felicis Ventures and Danhua Capital.
Salesforce’s decision to set up the $50m AI Innovation Fund follows the one year anniversary of its artificial intelligence toolset Einstein.
Separately, Salesforce Ventures also revealed it has made a strategic investment in AI startup studio All Turtles and will use the partnership to co-create artificial intelligence products for its platform.