Cisco Investments, the global corporate venture investment arm of Cisco, has launched a US $1 Billion Artificial Intelligence (AI) investment fund with the aim to bolster the start-up ecosystem and expand the development of secure and reliable AI solutions.
Cisco, often perceived as a formidable 800-pound gorilla of the tech world, has its footprint spread across a variety of technology solutions including software, networking, security, computing and even Data Centers and Hybrid Cloud. It’s billion-dollar AI investment announcement is the latest in a series of similar announcements made by technology giants such as Microsoft and Google this year.
Mark Patterson, Chief Strategy Officer, Cisco, said, “At Cisco, we believe we are well positioned to be the best strategic partner for our customers in the AI era as they look to build, secure, and power AI. In addition to building essential technology to connect, secure and advance AI, Cisco is committed to investing in the broader AI ecosystem to more effectively meet our customers’ needs.”
“The establishment of our US$1 Billion AI investment fund is a testament to our commitment to the transformative power of artificial intelligence and its potential to redefine industries globally,” said Derek Idemoto, SVP, Corporate Development and Cisco Investments, adding, “This fund represents our unwavering commitment to AI and innovation, and to the entrepreneurs and visionaries who are defining the next wave of technology.”
According to a press release, over the past few years, Cisco has made over 20 AI-focused acquisitions and investments, furthering GenAI and Machine Learning capabilities and integration of AI across the Cisco portfolio. It further explained that the committed investments in the new AI fund include:
Cohere: Headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, Cohere provides security-focused frontier large language models (LLMs) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) capabilities tailored to meet the needs of enterprises.
Mistral AI: Mistral AI is a global company headquartered in Paris specializing in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI).
Scale AI: Based in the U.S., Scale AI provides a data-centric, end-to-end platform providing training and validation for AI applications.
