Early-stage and AI-focused venture capital firm Air Street Capital has secured $121.2m (£97.3m) for its latest fund.
Angels contributing to its second fund hail from the likes of Google, Spotify, Wayve, OpenAI and DeepMind according to the investor.
Nathan Benaich, general partner and founder of Air Street Capital, said: “AI is a force multiplier for technology, helping us to unlock a new era of economic progress and scientific discovery.
“Excitement has exploded around AI since last summer, with companies of all sizes, media, politicians, and investors coming into the fold en masse.”
Industrial robotics maker Sereact, protein language models startup Profluent and Samaya AI are already benefiting from what the VC is calling its “second epoch”.
London-headquartered Air Street Capital invested in 19 AI and life science businesses – including the biopharma Allcyte acquired by Exscientia and the AI data labelling platform V7 – with its first fund.
“As we’ve scaled, it’s been incredible to see the progress the entrepreneurs we’ve backed have made, from providing critical software for global enterprises to contributing to blockbuster IPOs and investment deals,” Benaich wrote on Linkedin.
The firm produces an annual “State of AI Report”, which is co-authored by Benaich and government AI taskforce chair Ian Hogarth.
Today the government revealed the appointment of Turing Prize Laureate Yoshua Bengio and GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler to its AI taskforce.