Having already backed InsurTech startup Tractable and security firm Allure, Zetta Venture Partners is looking for more AI-powered ventures to support with its new $180m fund.
This is Zetta’s third fund, which brings the investor’s total assets under management to $365m.
Zetta was founded in 2013 to support startups using artificial intelligence as part of their unique user experience.
“AI has largely been about augmenting and automating human labor,” said Mark Gorenberg, founder and managing director of Zetta Venture Partners. “But the next wave of AI is about creating and understanding complex systems such as the environment, human biology, cybersecurity and the global economy.”
The new fund comes at at a time when many businesses are feeling uncertain about the future because of the current coronavirus crisis.
However, Zetta points out that several of the companies in its portfolio – such as FollowAnalytics, Constructor, Lilt and InsurTech100 company Tractable – are all helping businesses move their operations online, and companies such as Opsani are helping businesses manage the skyrocketing infrastructure costs that come with that shift.
“So many people are feeling pessimistic about the future right now,” said Jocelyn Goldfein, managing director at Zetta. “Those concerns should motivate us to work harder to invent new solutions and build resilience into our systems, whether that’s health care, disaster response, environmental protection or economic safety nets. These problems look like opportunities to great entrepreneurs, and we are grateful to have the chance to provide the earliest support to the founders who are rising to the challenge with innovative ideas.”
Zetta is usually the first investor in a startup, committing $1 million to $3 million when a company has some predictive models to get its first customers. “We help companies solve the specific challenges of building an AI-first company, such as gathering data, building machine learning teams and marketing the value of predictive systems,” said Ash Fontana, managing director of Zetta Venture Partners.
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