AI Fund Research
Investment Thesis
AI Fund is a venture studio, not a traditional VC firm, founded by Andrew Ng in 2018 and significantly expanded in recent years. The fund's central thesis is that the next generation of transformative AI companies will be built by pairing deep industry domain expertise with cutting-edge AI capabilities. Rather than just providing capital, AI Fund acts as an active co-founder, building companies from inception alongside recruited CEOs and technical founders.
The studio model represents a fundamental shift from passive investing: AI Fund provides not just capital but also co-founder matching, pre-seed funding, hand-picked core teams, business formation support, and access to a network of AI pioneers and operators. This enables rapid company formation with significantly de-risked business models.
Business Model & Approach
AI Fund operates as a venture studio, which fundamentally differs from traditional VC:
- Co-Founding with Entrepreneurs: AI Fund partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to co-found AI companies, providing business leaders and tech experts alongside capital
- De-Risk & Validate: Tiger teams of business and tech experts rapidly validate ideas before major investment
- Build Phase: With co-founder matching, pre-seed funding, and hand-picked core teams, founders launch with operational momentum
- Scale Support: Portfolio support includes fundraising facilitation, AI talent recruitment, and operational guidance
This model has proven highly successful, with portfolio companies raising significant follow-on capital and achieving strong growth.
Fund & Capital Structure
Fund II (AI Fund II): $190 million, closed in May 2025 (oversubscribed)
- Actively deploying across portfolio
- Focus on AI applications, AI infrastructure, and agentic systems
Fund III (Growth Fund): $100 million growth fund filing announced February 2026
- Marks expansion into growth-stage investments
- Goes beyond early-stage and venture studio focus
Backing & Partners: Over $370 million total capital, with support from:
- Sequoia Capital
- New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
- Nikkei (Japan-focused)
- AES (energy-focused partnership)
- Mitsubishi Corporation (strategic partnership)
Sector & Technology Focus
AI Fund invests across AI companies spanning multiple sectors:
Applications Layer (34 companies in portfolio):
- Enterprise AI and productivity software (Workhelix, Workera, Rypple)
- Financial services & risk management (Octagon AI, ValidMind)
- Healthcare & wellness (Woebot Health, Affineon Health)
- Retail & commerce (Profitmind, BizTrip AI)
- Education & literacy (Esteam)
- Maritime & sustainability (Civio, Gaia Dynamics)
- Travel & logistics (Freight Hero, BizTrip AI)
- Safety & emergency response (Haven Safety, SkyFire AI)
- Speech/language (SpeechLab - speech-to-speech translation)
- HR & work (Rypple - manager coaching, Meeno - relationships)
- Developer tools (LandingAI, Pixi, 10Web)
- Privacy & compliance (Common Sense Privacy, Credo AI)
Infrastructure & Developer Tools (6 companies):
- ML inference infrastructure (Baseten)
- Data infrastructure and ML engineering (Factored AI)
- Enterprise AI management platforms (Olakai)
- Other technical infrastructure
Portfolio Breadth: 40+ portfolio companies across diverse sectors, demonstrating willingness to invest across vertical and horizontal AI applications.
Stage & Check Size
Primary Stage: Pre-seed and Seed
- Pre-seed: Typically co-founded companies with AI Fund providing matching co-founders and initial capital
- Seed: $500K - $3M+ for portfolio companies
- Series A+: Selective follow-ons for companies with strong traction
Check Size: Ranges from $500K for early companies to multiple millions for scaled portfolio companies. Follow-on investment capacity is significant given $190M Fund II deployment.
Lead vs Follow: AI Fund typically leads investments in portfolio companies it co-founds. For co-investments with corporate partners (AES for energy, Mitsubishi for industrial AI), lead/follow varies by structure.
Team & Decision Making
Core Leadership:
- Andrew Ng, Managing General Partner: Founder of AI Fund, ex-Google, ex-Baidu, legendary AI researcher and educator
- Andy Ku, Partner: Operational and investment focus
- Eva Wang, Partner, COO, General Counsel: Operations and legal
- Linda Lee, Talent Partner: Founder recruiting and co-founder matching
Support Team:
- Ellen Li (CFO)
- Eli Chen (Principal Technical Architect)
- Shannon Lieu (Assistant General Counsel)
- Multiple Sr. Associate Builders and Recruiters
Advisors: 24+ venture advisors including Tim Westergren (Founder of Pandora) and Anthony Soohoo (2x founder, Fortune 100 exec)
Decision Process: Partnership-based with Andrew Ng's leadership on strategy and thesis. Investment committee likely includes core partners with input from advisors on domain-specific deals.
Geographic Focus
Primary: San Francisco Bay Area (headquarters) Expansion: Taiwan hub and Colombia operations announced Global Strategy: While US-based, increasingly international with focus on connecting global AI expertise to region-specific opportunities
Recent Activity & Momentum
Fund II Deployment: Actively investing from $190M Fund II closed May 2025
Notable Exits: Bhuma, Esteam, and WhyLabs acquired
Partnership Announcements:
- AI Fund & Mitsubishi Corporation partnership for industrial AI
- AI Fund & AES partnership for energy AI startups
- Taiwan expansion announced with dedicated operations
Fund III: Growth fund filing for $100M in February 2026 signals confidence in portfolio and expansion beyond studio model
Key Differentiators
- Venture Studio Model: Co-founder matching and active company building vs. traditional VC capital provision
- Domain-Agnostic with AI Focus: Willing to invest across any sector if AI is core technology
- Andrew Ng Leadership: World-class AI credibility attracts top talent and partners
- Partner Network: Leverages corporate partners (Mitsubishi, AES, Nikkei) for deal flow and customer access
- Operational Support: Recruiting, co-founder matching, business formation expertise
- International Expansion: Moving beyond US with Taiwan hub and Colombia operations