Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of cloud-computing giant Salesforce, is launching a $50 million fund to invest in startups focused on artificial intelligence, according to Reuters.
Salesforce has been working more and more with artificial intelligence (AI) through its Salesforce Einstein tool, which marks its first year on Tuesday.
Interest in AI has been rising across the tech industry. According to CB Insights, deals tied to AI startups increased from 150 in 2012 to 698 in 2016. So far in 2017, $6.5 billion of capital has been handed out across more than 650 deals, compared with $5.7 billion across nearly 1,000 deals in 2016.
Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
