AI Hardware

AI-Focused VC Radical Ventures Nears $800 Million Fundraise

Radical Ventures, a Canadian venture capital firm that made early bets on a string of hot artificial intelligence startups, secured nearly $800 million in commitments for a new fund, according to people familiar with the plans.

By Priya Khosla August 14, 2024

Source: Financial Post

The firm is currently nearing the close of the new fund, which will boost its assets under management to about $1.8 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

The new fund will be Radical Ventures’ first to focus on later-stage companies. In the seven years since its founding, the firm has mostly backed very early AI startups, investing small checks at the seed stage. Its portfolio companies include Cohere Inc. and Covariant Inc., both of which have grown to become significant players, along with AI chip development startup Untether AI and drug discovery company Genesis Therapeutics Inc.

The new fund will allow Radical Ventures to write larger checks for bigger companies. “With this, we can lead deals,” said Radical Ventures co-founder and managing partner Jordan Jacobs.

Investors in Radical Ventures have included pioneering AI researcher Fei-Fei Li, who is now a scientific partner at the firm. Other backers are AI “godfather” Geoffrey Hinton, TD Bank, Temasek and Canadian pension investors CPP Investments and PSP Investments.

“It was this huge white space,” Jacobs said. Today, the sector is more crowded, but Jacobs still sees big potential, and is bullish on the firm’s ability to select winning startups. Radical has met with about 8,500 AI companies and invested in fewer than 50 over the past five years. “Our approach is to be there before other people,” he said.

Read the full article here.