Heaptalk, Jakarta — Google officially launched the AI Futures Fund, a program for investing in startups using AI tools from Google DeepMind through equity funding to fuel growth and scale AI development (05/12).
This program is available for multiple growth stages, from seed to late. Startups will also obtain early access to DeepMind’s latest AI models and technical expertise to accelerate their progress. Early access to DeepMind includes some of the company’s advanced AI models, such as Gemini, Imagen for image generation, and Veo for video generation.
Collaboration with Google experts will allow startups to gain support from researchers, engineers, product managers, designers, and go-to-market specialists from DeepMind and Labs. The program provides cloud credits and dedicated technical support from the company’s cloud experts to help build, train, and scale AI-powered products.
“We’re creating an initiative that invests and works with startups to accelerate their ambitious ideas,” stated Jonathan Silber, co-founder & director at AI Futures Fund.
Over the past several months, this initiative has been working with several startups across diverse industries, including Cartwheel, Synthesia, Toonsutra, Viggle, Volley, Spline, Rooms, Fal, Tldraw, Harvey, Replit, and Glean. Toonsutra, an Indian digital comic and webtoon app, uses Gemini’s translation capabilities to make digital comics accessible across India’s diverse linguistic landscape.
Viggle, an AI meme-making platform, explores new forms of video creation powered by Gemini, Imagen, and Veo. Rooms, a platform where users create, play, and share interactive 3D spaces, is working with Google to prototype richer content experiences with Gemini. “These early collaborations show how the right support can help founders move faster, test bolder ideas, and build products that weren’t possible before,” Silber concluded.
