1. Home
  2. Companies
  3. AI Fund
AF

AI Fund

About

AI Fund is a venture capital firm that strives to move humanity forward by accelerating the adoption of AI.

We help entrepreneurs like you solve large problems with creative uses of machine learning. We are a team of AI pioneers, operators, entrepreneurs, and investors, supported by top-tier partners including NEA, Sequoia, and Greylock.

We know that building an AI company requires overcoming unique challenges, and we want to support you with technical, operational and business expertise on your journey. Our focus is in the earliest stages of a startup (seed, pre-seed, and even pre-pitch deck) where we hope our help can make the biggest difference.

To build the next generation of tech giants, your team will require both industry know-how and AI expertise. We can help bring together and support the right team under your leadership, with the common goal of tackling the largest markets.

LET US INVEST IN YOU

Artificial intelligence is the new electricity. As electricity revolutionized the world and ushered in the Second Industrial Revolution, so AI is poised to radically transform the economy and the world. We are proud to support entrepreneurs in building companies that move humanity forward by harnessing this power.

Important new businesses need to be created to impact on difficult problems in a variety of areas. We’re open to all AI applications, but some sectors we’re particularly excited about are human capital, health and wellness, next-generation enterprise, and MLOps.

CO-FOUNDER AS A SERVICE

Bringing a company from 0 to 1 is one of the hardest things a person can do (having done that numerous times, many of us at AI Fund understand that well).

Partnering with a venture studio to launch your company is a force multiplier. A study by the Global Startup Studio Network (GSSN) found startups founded with a studio have a 30% higher success rate. They also grow bigger faster: almost every company launched from a studio receives seed funding and 72% of those will receive Series A funding.

Founders in our studio program leverage lower barriers to entry, financial support, and higher levels of operational involvement to springboard great companies.

We offer a streamlined company-building process, including operational excellence so founders can focus on product/market fit. And it’s not just back office support, it’s connections and introductions to quickly grow their business. Founders can build their companies within the nurturing space of an AI ecosystem that spans industries. Furthermore, our tech team is available to advise and assist with your AI/ML needs so you can quickly develop your product and take it to market.

We want to see you win. Let’s win together.

OUR INVESTORS

AI Fund is backed with $176 million in capital by some of the leading VC firms and investors in the world. These limited partners include legendary Silicon Valley investors such as Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and Softbank Group.

Similar companies

DV

Differential Ventures

Differential invests in solutions that will transform the way businesses operate and succeed in tomorrow’s markets. AI-Powered Business As the world of software-as-a-service (SaaS) continues to evolve, we will see the emergence of a new class of solutions driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. These cutting-edge models will be tailored to address the unique challenges and needs of both individual users and entire industries, helping to alleviate pain points and drive innovation. Advancing the ML Tech Stack While Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) is still in its infancy, organizations seeking to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning on a large scale will need specialized tools and solutions to streamline their workflows and keep costs under control. Evolution of Engineering and Infrastructure As coding and computing processes become increasingly complex, distributed, and intensive, new technology will emerge to better manage the many challenges that arise in these new environments and keep projects running smoothly. Responsible Data Management and Information Analysis The astronomic increase in data and availability of raw, unfiltered information available on the internet has created a social, regulatory, ethics, and security crisis. As regulatory pressure and complexity continue to mount, enterprises will be required to take a more proactive role in protecting their customers' and users' data, ensuring that it is handled ethically and securely.

AI

Angel Invest

We make 50+ angel investments per year into European technology startups. Our initial check size is €100k, we invest in Pre-seed and Seed rounds. We are looking for extremely ambitious teams who do something that nobody else is doing and maybe it is already working a little bit. Once invested, we coach founders to product market fit and help them raise Series A. Jens Lapinski, Jag Singh, Mara Larson-Richard, and Matthaus Krzykowski are Partners who make angel investments and coach founders. John von Berenberg-Consbruch is a Partner who makes larger follow-on investments in our portfolio companies. Oliver Clasen is a Partner who focuses on our company growth. Eckart Koerner is our CFO, he looks after legal and finance. We have made angel investments in 150+ startups that have raised in excess of €1.9 billion in follow-on funding and have a market cap of over €4BN. Companies we backed with angel checks include Rasa, Everphone, Impala, Usercentrics, Coachhub, Kencko, Spacelift, Symmetrical, Depoly, Recap, DappRadar, Opna, Ivy, Bling, Howbout and many more.

CH

Chamaeleon

Chamaeleon is a new early-stage venture capital firm that brings together 3 partners that have long collaborated as investors, operators and entrepreneurs that will focus on investing in truly transformative companies. We have learnt from our experience to see near and far, to be global and local, to be strategic and pragmatic, all at the same time. Our “superpowers” have helped numerous entrepreneurs craft breakout successes and with Chamaeleon, we will take it to the next level. For an industry that is fueled by technology, its innovations and the sometimes stratospheric returns on its investments, venture capital - in particular in early-stage - is an industry surprisingly lacking in technology, at its core. Although the operating models and playbooks used to source and do due diligence on start-ups - in our opinion, the two most core activities in VC - have evolved over time, there are very few impactful innovations around the core technology stacks that VC firms actually develop or bring together. Therefore, we are bringing a full-stack approach to VC investing with our own early-stage investing technology stack at the center of everything we do. We will also use these platforms to create value to portfolio companies and our own investors/LPs. This partnership has invested in companies like App Annie, DraftKings, Gusto, Kakao, Outsystems, Robinhood, Rubrik, Virta Health, Cloudflare, Ometria, among many other “household” names. We have led and managed 5 VC funds between us with enviable returns, including top 2 to 5 percentile funds. We have created verifiable impact at-scale as operators in such household names as NCSOFT, McKinsey & Co, GSM Association, SK Telecom, Sonae. We have jumped off a cliff before and started our own companies… and we are doing it all over again, because we don’t rest on our laurels, because we have a fundamental new way of looking and executing in this space, because we love and feel blessed by being in venture capital… and because, deep down, we just want to do this, together. Last, but most certainly not the least, we are big believers that as much as technology will augment us… as much as our insights and instincts will support our decisions, people are still at the center of all of this. We have built unique networks of truly astonishing and generous people, not just in the geographies where we will have our offices, but around the world, where we will operate. All of us have worked in at least 3 different continents and will continue bringing to entrepreneurs all the resources that we have access to as individuals, as a firm, but also from our broader ecosystem of investors/LPs, advisors, friends. We will continue bringing a humanistic values-based approach to this profession (we don’t call it a job, around here): we will continue treating entrepreneurs’ start-ups as their babies… because they are; when we are tough, we will continue being thoughtful, fair and charitable.

FV

F2 Venture Capital

F2 Venture Capital is a Tel Aviv-based VC firm that invests in early-stage technology companies on the cutting edge. Our team members have been investors, operators, and engineers in startups and multinational giants that changed the game over the last twenty years. With $500 million assets under management, F2 powers visionary founders on their bold missions with personalized support. F2 also operates The Junction, Israel's most active pre-seed investment platform, to back founders with guidance, network, and capital from day zero. What does F2 stand for? F2 stands for “Power to Founders”. Our team is here to augment and support your team with the guidance, network and capital to hit your milestones and realize your vision. What are our core values? Our core values are trust, boldness and efficiency. All of our team members share these values that are inspired by the values that Israel’s special forces use to accomplish daring missions against all odds. When was F2 established? We launched our first fund in 2017. Our founders spun out of Genesis Partners, one of Israel’s most established and respected VC funds over the last 25 years. We are currently investing out of our second fund raised in 2019. Which notable companies have we backed? Our partners have previously backed Bizzabo, Click Software (Acquired by Salesforce), Crossrider (FTSE IPO), eToro, FundTech (NASDAQ IPO), Innovid, Kidaro (Acquired by Microsoft), Monday.com, Neebula (Acquired by ServiceNow), ObserveIT (Acquired by Proofpoint), Optimove, PrimeSense (Acquired by Apple), R2Net (Acquired by Signet) and Simplex, among many others from seed stage to exit. Who backs F2? We are backed by institutions and family offices on every continent except Antarctica. Many of our investors are successful founders themselves and routinely help our portfolio companies with advice and support on the ground. F2 is also supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments. Where do we focus? We back deep technology companies at the junction of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Connectivity. These are B2B or B2B2C enterprise software companies with R&D in Israel. Do we focus on particular industries? We believe technology will disrupt every market, so our approach is industry agnostic. We back companies in cyber security, digital health, financial services, HR, insurance, media, real estate, retail and software infrastructure, among other areas. We do not invest in hardware or biotech. At which stage do we invest? It is never too early to get in touch with our team. We love sharing ideas and tailor our approach to support founders at the concept, pre-seed and seed stages. How much do we invest? F2 typically leads seed rounds with checks of up to $4M. We reserve additional funds for follow on rounds in high growth companies. What do we look for in a startup? In order to take our investment decisions, we evaluate the team, market, value proposition, technology and commercial validation. The team is by far the most important factor for us. What do we look for in the team? We are looking for authentic entrepreneurs – women and men who could not imagine doing anything except their venture and have a large vision for their company. Founders should also complement each other in terms of technical and commercial skills. We also love to back “first timers”. What do we look for in the market? We are interested in game changing startups targeting large, existing markets like financial services and healthcare, or small but rapidly growing markets like artificial intelligence. What do we mean by value proposition? We are looking for compelling concepts with a clear business model and a unique approach to solving big problems. Timing is also critical; we ask, “why now?" What do we mean by technology? We look for startups whose technology can provide a moat or barrier to entry for competition and support a great product and user experience. What do we mean by commercial traction? We look for evidence of product-market fit. At the early stage, this usually comes in the form a small but passionate set of customers who view your service as “mission critical”. What is our investment process? Our investment process generally follows five steps: First meeting with our team. In advance of our first meeting, we will review any materials you want to share. This will help us ask the right questions to ensure there is a fit. Our first meeting (or call) will be 45 minutes to cover the basics and feedback. Follow up meetings with our team. Most of our “passes” happen after the first meeting. Follow up meetings mean we are genuinely interested in your startup and want to learn more. You will meet additional team members to address questions and concerns. It’s also our chance to share more about F2 and how we can help. Meetings with outside experts. Over the last 25 years, we have had the privilege to work with founders across every sector. We will match you with domain experts from our network who help us to build conviction and respond efficiently. Meeting with our Investment Committee. Our general partners comprise the investment committee of the fund. We meet every Monday and will invite you back to share the entire story and address the questions that arise in our process. Final Decision. We take all investment decisions as a team by unanimous vote of the general partners. Our goal is to give you a final decision within 24 hours following the meeting with our Investment Committee. How long does our process take? While we follow the same steps for every company, the timing of our process varies based on the investment criteria and our level of conviction. It can range from two weeks to two months but generally we strive to complete a thorough process as fast as possible. Is there a fast track? The Junction is our fast track to investment. The program is designed for strong founding teams that are still developing one of or more parts of their business plan. We can move as fast as one week to provide pre-seed funding in these situations. Does F2 only back companies from The Junction? No. F2 invests in the seed stage in companies from The Junction as well as directly into companies that do not start at The Junction. We harness the network of founders and partners around The Junction to support all of our companies. What is The Junction? Established in 2011 at Genesis Partners, The Junction is our pre-seed investment program to help founders achieve technological, product and business targets in an accelerated time frame. What are some notable companies from The Junction? The Junction has launched more than 200 companies including AppsFlyer, HoneyBook, Simplee, ClarityRay, HouseParty, CyberX, Mobilize and many others that have raised close to $1 billion from top VC funds and realized multiple exits to tech giants. What value does The Junction provide? Over a 6 month period, startups in the program receive tailor made support in strategy development, positioning, sales & marketing and recruitment, among other critical areas. The Junction provides 5 layers of support to founders: Guidance. Expert guidance from investors, alumni and industry experts. Network. Access to multinational partners for commercial pilots and investment. Capital. Pre-seed funding from F2 on founder-friendly terms. Operations. Support in positioning, business development and HR from industry experts. Perks. Free workspace, credits and discounts for cloud hosting and additional services. What are the terms of the program? The terms of the program are simple. F2 invests on a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) that converts into your seed round at a discount with no cap on the valuation. In addition, F2 has the right to participate in your seed round, on the terms of the round. How do you apply to The Junction? Contact us with your background and vision and we will follow up with you within 48 hours. If your focus fits our areas of focus, we will invite you for a meeting and give you a decision within 7 to 14 days. Does F2 continue to invest in companies from The Junction? Yes. We can lead or join the seed investment round in companies from The Junction. In fact, this is why we run the program – to get to know you, add value and give you the opportunity to get to know us – to build a strong and successful partnership with you for the long term. How much do we invest in a company? F2 typically leads seed rounds with checks of up to $4M. We reserve additional funds for follow on rounds in high growth companies. Will F2 join a round with another VC? Yes. We often partner with other top funds, multinationals and strategic angels from our network and yours to build the best possible team and support your growth. What makes F2 different? F2 is a specialized fund with a clear mandate to back seed stage, deep technology companies in Israel. We are totally aligned to help you reach your milestones and bring additional top global funds for your round. In addition to our team of investment and HR professionals and portfolio companies, The Junction community with hundreds of founders and partners pay it forward to support you with collective wisdom and partnership. How do you support your companies? The companies we have previously backed have raised billions of dollars in follow-on capital. We leverage our experience and relationships – built over decades – to help you build the right pitch and connect with your ideal partner. As market conditions shift and Series A pools shrink, this kind of resource becomes a serious advantage to our founders. Will F2 support you in future rounds? On day one we set milestones together and help you achieve them. We want to be your first call when you hit an obstacle so there are no surprises, and we continue to invest in your Series A round and beyond as you execute on plan or pivot with the market. How does F2 help you with HR? Our Head of People is dedicated to help you connect and screen top talent to build your team. As a trained psychologist, she also coaches our founders through inevitable tensions and challenges in order to perform at your best, as individuals and as a team. Does F2 take board seats? F2 takes a board seat in companies when we invest at the seed stage and are most active helping you build your company in the first years. Outside of the board, we prefer to meet one-on-one to help you navigate challenges and opportunities on your growth trajectory.

MV

MongoDB Ventures

The worldwide data management software market is massive (IDC forecasts it to be $138 billion by 2026!). At MongoDB we are transforming industries and empowering developers to build amazing apps that people use every day. We are the leading modern data platform and the first database provider to IPO in over 20 years. Join our team and be at the forefront of innovation and creativity. Ventures is a new practice at MongoDB created to invest in the most exciting companies solving problems for developers and data practitioners. These range from next-generation Platform-as-a-Service businesses to companies creating foundational infrastructure to enable advanced uses of Generative AI.

DV

Dropbox Ventures

We’re investing up to $50 million across startups that are building the next generation of AI-powered apps and tools. Supporting the next generation of tech entrepreneurs Not too long ago, Dropbox was an early-stage startup with a simple idea: make it easier for people to access files and collaborate from anywhere. That idea grew into a service used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. As a founder-led company, we understand the unique challenges and opportunities of early-stage development. And we’re here to help startups around the world reshape modern work with innovative AI experiences. Accelerating innovation through AI funding Dropbox Ventures is more than just a funding program - it’s a strategic partnership. We’ll work closely with our portfolio companies, providing mentorship and potential exposure to over 700 million registered Dropbox users who can benefit from their product. What we’re looking for:The biggest ideas: That can transform how we work The best new tech: Unique, AI-powered apps and experiences The most talented teams: With a track record of success and innovation