IANS | 16 Jun, 2017
Tech giant
Microsoft, chip-maker NVIDIA and Intel have made the investment for a Canadian
artificial intelligence (AI) start-up "Element AI", the media
reported.
According to a report in Investopedia on Thursday, Microsoft made the
investment through its venture capital arm Microsoft Ventures, while Intel did
it through Intel Capital.
Element AI, that came on the scene eight months ago, is a platform to help
companies of all sizes build AI into their businesses and it has raised $102
million.
Element AI will use the funding to hire more employees, to invest in big AI
projects and to acquire start-ups in the space.
"Artificial Intelligence is a 'must have' capability for global
companies," Jean-François Gagné, CEO Element AI, was quoted as saying.
"Without it, they are competitively impaired if not at grave risk of being
obsoleted in place," he added.
Microsoft has earlier also backed a company that focused on AI. In May, it
co-led a $7.6 million venture capital round of funding for Bonsai, the
Berkeley, California-based AI start-up, and invested in Agolo, a New York
City-based AI start-up.
NVIDIA is in the early stages of transitioning from a maker of PC graphics
chips to a leader in AI, which could drive future growth, said Citi analyst,
Atif Malik.
"Element AI will benefit by continuing to leverage NVIDIA's high
performance GPUs and software at large scale to solve some of the world's most
challenging issues," Jeff Herbst, Vice President Business Development at
NVIDIA, said.