The Salesforce company has been involved in over 140 deals for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning startups.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — Salesforce Ventures announced to double its support to pour investment into the Generative AI startups, from USD 250 million in size to USD 500 million.
In response to this plan, the Managing Partner of Salesforce Ventures, Paul Drews, stated, “We are already seeing AI change how the world works, and we are excited to build the momentum of our Generative AI Fund. The expansion would enable Salesforce AI solutions for the enterprise. We are excited to support the next generation of innovative founders,”
According to the company, the Generative AI Fund has contributed to investments in several notable generative AI startups, including Antrhopic, Cohere, Heart.AI, and You.com. These companies joining the list of investments with the new funding pool are function automation developer Tribble and Humane, which is working on a screenless AI assistant.
On the other hand, Salesforce’s investment in Generative AI startups also includes a new startup accelerator program, Salesforce AI Impact Accelerator. This AI for Impact program will disburse USD 2 million to a cohort of education, workforce, and climate organizations to advance trusted AI’s fair and ethical use.
“Generative AI presents a massive and exciting opportunity to drive organizations to serve better and meaningfully engage with their communities. In this time of rapid innovation, we need to ensure no one gets left behind. This AI accelerator brings the full power of Salesforce with unrestricted grants, pro-bono policy, and our technology to create a more equitable AI world,” Salesforce Foundation CEO and Salesforce Senior Vice President of Philanthropy Becky Ferguson said, cited in voicebot.ai.
Besides augmenting the investment amount to the AI startups, the company also unveils its Artificial Intelligence (AI) cloud to attract more enterprises by offering AI-powered products under one umbrella.
This AI Cloud will include Salesforce’s products, from the Einstein service to the workplace messaging application Slack and data analysis software Tableau. The starter pack will be available for USD 360,000 annually. Along with the company’s offerings, AI Cloud will host the large-language models (LLMs), the core software of AI systems, from providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Anthropic, and Cohere.
As it is known, Salesforces Ventures joins other tech companies in investing in AI startups. Based on a Bloomberg report, the software company has been involved in over 140 deals for AI and machine learning startups, particularly in AI insights for sales, natural language chatbots for service requests, targeted marketing content, and personalized e-commerce experiences.
