The early-stage corporate venture unit is raising its fifth AI-focused fund.
Gradient Ventures, a corporate venturing unit of Alphabet, the owner of search engine Google, is raising $200 million for its fifth fund, according to a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Backed by Google, Gradient Ventures has more than $1bn under management and has backed more than 150 AI-focused startups, investing at seed and series A stage.
The CVC unit is raising for a new AI fund approximately a year after its last, $200m fund, according to PitchBook data, as it seeks to expand its investments in artificial intelligence startups, its main investing area since its founding in 2017.
Its parent Google has invested heavily in AI, mirroring the large-scale investments made by the other big tech companies. Its chatbot and search companion Gemini was launched in 2023.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Gradient Ventures focuses on seed to early-stage investments in AI, software and IT sectors in North America and Europe.
Gradient Ventures’ latest investments include supply-chain logistics automation platform BackOps.ai, open-source platform for managing sensitive data and credentials Infisical, and German developer of an autonomous AI legal agent for enterprise teams Flank.
