How former Googlers’ VC firm invests in AI

Plus, another huge AI round leads week’s top 10 deals October 30, 2023 Hi, {NAME}. Investors show no signs of easing up on AI. In fact, a quarter of all venture investment this year — globally and in the U.S. — [has gone to AI-related startups]( Crunchbase data shows. And that was before news broke late Friday that [Google]( is putting up to another [$2 billion]( into [OpenAI]( competitor [Anthropic](. Speaking of AI and Google, we recently chatted with former Googler [Andy Harrison]( of investment firm [Section 32]( which has invested heavily in AI including startups using artificial intelligence in health care applications. (We’ve previously spoken with active AI investors at [General Catalyst]( [Bessemer Venture Partners]( [Accel]( [Insight Partners]( [Index Ventures]( and [Sequoia Capital]( if you’d like to hear from others.) 🤖 [How former Googlers’ VC firm invests in AI]( [Andy Harrison]( was at [Google]( when the tech giant launched the Transformer machine learning model in 2017 — a massive leap forward in the AI revolution that paved the way for generative AI chatbots like [ChatGPT]( several years later. Now Harrison is the CEO and managing partner at [Section 32]( a venture investment firm that also invests heavily in AI. We recently spoke with Harrison about the firm’s investments in everything from AI-enabled drug discovery to large language models. Related Crunchbase Pro list: [Section 32 AI portfolio companies]( 🔥 [Google to invest $2B in OpenAI rival as AI funding wars heat up]( [Google]( has agreed to invest up to $2 billion into [OpenAI]( competitor [Anthropic]( including $500 million upfront. The deal comes just months after [Amazon]( agreed to invest [up to $4 billion]( into Anthropic and is the latest example of big tech’s insatiable appetite when it comes to generative AI. 🏅 [AI and biotech lead in bigger week for funding deals]( Besides [Anthropic]( three other U.S. startups last week raised nine-figure rounds and there were several other big rounds just under that. Biotech seemed to be the big winner, taking three of the top five spots. See also: [The Crunchbase Megadeals Board]( ✂️ [Layoffs pile up in logistics, legaltech and more]( Layoffs continued to plague the U.S. tech workforce this week as some companies shed a portion of the multitude of workers hired to keep commerce flowing during the pandemic, and a pair of startups reported complete shutdowns. 🦄 [Meet the new AI unicorns of 2023]( One in five of the new unicorns to join [The Crunchbase Unicorn Board]( this year is an AI company, our analysis of the data shows. We look at those companies, which span AI sub-sectors from large language models to defense-related artificial intelligence. See also: [The Crunchbase Unicorn Board]( 💔 [Truck startups keep breaking VC hearts]( When it comes to trucks, venture capitalists are basically the opposite of country singers, who apparently only need to add a truck reference to any song for a guaranteed hit. In fact, in many cases where VCs start dabbling with pickups and long-haul tractor-trailers, the results have been major flops that end in bankruptcies or sharp declines. Related Crunchbase Pro list: [Publicly Traded VC-Funded Truck-Related Companies]( [Crunchbase ROI Calculator]( [See the number of new accounts Crunchbase can add to your funnel with our advanced prospecting ROI calculator powered by Crunchbase data.]( [Calculate]( Recent Investments [Ola Electric]( [32B INR]( / [Venture Round]( Ola Electric focuses on developing and manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) and related technologies. Categories: Automotive • Electric Vehicle • Manufacturing • Sales • Sustainability Founders: [Anand Shah]( [Ankit Jain]( [Bhavish Aggarwal]( Investors: [Temasek Holdings]( (Lead) [BetterOmics]( [$20M]( / [Series A]( BetterOmics is a SaaS platform that empowers professionals in the life sciences industry with cutting-edge AI and computational techniques. 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Categories: Health Care • mHealth • Wellness Founders: [Josu García de Albizu]( [Kimberly Breuer]( [Maximilian Heberger]( [Stefan Anca]( Investors: [IBB Ventures]( [N&V Capital]( More Fundings Company Amount / Round Lead Investor [Oxide Computer Company]( $44M / [Series A]( [Eclipse Ventures]( [Arteria AI]( $30M / [Series B]( [GGV Capital]( [Omnidian]( $25M / [Venture Round]( [HSBC Asset Management]( [Upfort]( $8.0M / [Series A]( [SYN Ventures]( [All Recent Funding Activity]( Recent Acquisitions [Payzer]( Pending acquisition by [Wex]( for $250M More Acquisitions Company Acquired By Amount [TIS Cumbria]( [Renew Holdings]( 4.7M GBP [All Recent Acquisition Activity]( Upcoming Tech Events [Women in Insurance Leadership Conference]( November 14 - 15, 2023 in Chicago Women in Insurance Leadership Conference is a one-day conference that celebrates the honorees and gathers leaders in the community. 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