NYU's Tandon School of Engineering has partnered FF Venture Capital to launch an accelerator program aimed at the artificial intelligence sector.
New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering joined forces with VC firm FF Venture Capital yesterday to launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-focused accelerator program.
The initiative, named NYU/FFVC AI NexusLab, marks both the first AI accelerator in New York City and the first such program as a collaboration between a university and venture capital firm in the US.
NexusLab will be open to early-stage companies internationally, with the first cohort to consist of five businesses working in the software, data and security, healthcare, finance or media and publishing industries.
The four-month program is set to begin in November 2016. Participating companies will benefit from a $100,000 investment each from FF Venture Capital in exchange for an undisclosed amount of equity.
NexusLab will also provide access to the university’s IT, including three supercomputers and an ultra-fast internet connection at Tandon’s incubator Data Future Lab, where the program will be based.
Dedicated AI experts from the university will also be on hand, with each company being assigned two full-time academic staff and a student fellow.
In total, NYU will provide $400,000 in support services, including legal and intellectual property consulting, cloud storage on Google and Amazon Web Services.
NexusLab plans to hold a conference at the end of the program in April that will revolve around AI from technology to tends to opportunities and provide networking opportunities for the five businesses, investors and academics.
Katepalli Sreenivasan, dean of NYU Tandon, said: “We are pleased to join FF Venture Capital in this innovative project that will accelerate the commercialisation of a technology that has been incubating for decades in research labs and promises vast new opportunities for our students, faculty, the New York innovation economy, and all of society.
“Among NYU’s AI research strength across multiple schools, Tandon’s success in fostering startups, and the reputation of FFVC for spotting new ideas then calling in more resources than any funder of its size, I strongly believe the AI NexusLab will become a guiding light for other accelerator-type programs.”
