Artificial intelligence (AI) expertise has develop into a pervasive idea, impacting each sector globally. As expertise ventures try to innovate, they’re more and more leveraging AI expertise to its fullest extent.
The yr 2023 marked a major milestone within the enterprise capital sector, with AI firms producing a staggering $50 billion in income. The funding pattern not solely mirrors the increasing maturity and potential of AI applied sciences but in addition lays the groundwork for ongoing innovation and progress within the years to come back.
Experienced enterprise capital funds, together with company enterprise capital funds, are inserting a major give attention to AI expertise. TT Ventures, the enterprise capital arm of Türk Telekom, notably directed investments towards AI-focused ventures. Similarly, main personal lender, Akbank, with a fund of $100 million, is monitoring AI expertise ventures not solely in Türkiye but in addition internationally. Simya VC, a world early-stage enterprise fund, invested a complete of $2.1 million in six startups in 2023, with AI expertise ventures prominently that includes amongst its investments.
Early-stage ventures
Preparing to determine its second fund in 2024, Simya VC goals to put money into greater than 10 ventures this yr.
Established as a part of a collaboration of Türkiye’s first company enterprise capital fund, 212, Neo Portföy and Alchemist Accelerator, one of many world’s greatest acceleration packages, to put money into early-stage ventures, Simya VC held discussions with a complete of 280 startups final yr.
Out of those, it invested in notable startups resembling Agrotics in agricultural expertise, B2Metric in AI-supported information analytics, Evercopy in AI-based content material creation, Juphy in AI-based B2B software program as a service (SaaS), Syntonym in generative AI and Werover in renewable power.
Contributing to world growth
Selma Bahçıvanoğlu, managing companion at Simya VC, expressed satisfaction of their achievements, noting plans to determine their second fund in 2024. Emphasizing investments in ventures with world visions, Bahçıvanoğlu highlighted their partnership with Alchemist, enabling ventures to leverage assist for coming into the U.S. market and benefiting from its community impact.
“In a relatively short period of time, akin to a year, we established our first fund, invested in a total of six ventures and expanded our investor portfolio to 90. This achievement is tremendously pride-inducing for us. Within the year 2024, we plan to establish our second fund (Simya 2). With the funds we’ve set up, we aim to invest in over 10 ventures this year,” she famous.
Bahçıvanoğlu additionally emphasised their funding in globally-minded ventures.
“In at this time’s world, ventures mustn’t confine themselves to the native market. However, it is not simple for a enterprise to solely give attention to a method of promoting to the worldwide market. This is exactly the place the ventures in our portfolio, benefiting from the funding they obtain from Simya together with the assist of Alchemist, one of many world’s greatest acceleration packages and our companion, come into play,” she mentioned.
“Alchemist supplies assist for ventures coming into the U.S. market and contributes to them by way of its community impact, because of its know-how in regards to the market.”
Investing in innovation
In 2023, Logo Ventures invested in 10 startups, growing its complete investments to 16 with six follow-on investments. Prioritizing ventures able to addressing future challenges, Logo Ventures opted for Figopara and Kamion, positioned to steer of their respective markets, or these with export potential like Quin AI, Flowla, and CarbonCentrum.
Logo Ventures, which invested in startups in Türkiye, Central and Eastern Europe and Baltic nations final yr, contributes to the journey of globalization for ventures by opening its business community to them, aiming to assist them attain a greater place rapidly.
Furthermore, it launched an modern strategy to funding analysis in 2023, deploying data-driven analysis software program to streamline and improve funding processes.
Extensive datasets collected from varied sources are interpreted by way of a specifically developed software for the fund, enabling Logo Ventures to guage new ventures quickly and systematically with out bias. Through this technique, the fund goals to extend effectivity and success in funding processes.
Merve Zabcı, managing companion at Logo Ventures, affirmed their dedication to investing in ventures shaping the longer term, offering not solely monetary assist but in addition entry to worldwide mentors and a worldwide investor community.
Looking forward to 2024, Logo Ventures plans to give attention to AI purposes in varied sectors, cybersecurity and local weather applied sciences.
“We proceed to put money into startups that may form the longer term with their merchandise and applied sciences. After the funding, we not solely present monetary assist to ventures but in addition open up our worldwide mentor and world investor community,” mentioned Zabcı.
“Our goal is to foster profitable ventures within the world competitors from this area. In this context, we plan to prioritize specializing in varied sector purposes of synthetic intelligence, cybersecurity and local weather applied sciences within the yr 2024.”
Akbank launches $100 million funding fund
Major Turkish personal lender Akbank has initiated its world investments within the entrepreneurship ecosystem with a $100 million fund by way of Akbank Ventures whereas implementing open innovation alongside company entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs by way of Akbank Lab.
Speaking on the Annual Türkiye Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Event, Burcu Civelek Yüce, deputy normal supervisor answerable for Retail Banking and Digital Solutions at Akbank, mentioned Akbank Lab is open to all entrepreneurs.
“We established Akbank Lab in 2016 with the goal of conducting open innovation with monetary expertise startups from world wide, integrating innovation into our personal construction and selling an inside tradition of entrepreneurship. We carried out proof-of-concept research with almost 40 monetary expertise startups, bringing 16 of them to life. Unknowingly, thousands and thousands of customers are actually utilizing these purposes,” mentioned Yüce.
“We related these startups with thousands and thousands of shoppers and customers who log in thousands and thousands of instances, bringing modern options to our clients and the establishment. This is a useful alternative for these entrepreneurs. Additionally, we launched the Akbank+ inside entrepreneurship program. We invested $1 million in complete, $500,000 every, in two entrepreneurs: Westlog and Volt. Now, we’ve got began the second spherical.”
International funding alternative
Regarding Akbank’s position as a worldwide investor, Yüce defined that as of April 2023, they established a company enterprise capital firm within the Netherlands, the place they give attention to investments within the world startup ecosystem.
“We have identified three general investment strategies. We can invest through existing private equity and venture capital (VC) companies. We can directly invest in startups worldwide. In 2023, we collaborated with seven different partners,” she famous.
“We can establish the areas we invested in throughout 2023 and can give attention to in 2024 as follows: We strongly consider in options for sustainability. We are able to collaborate with those that have options and startups in digital foreign money, tokens, generative AI, regenerative finance, and Web3.”
Fujifilm’s innovation ensures aggressive edge for 90-year-old firm
Over the previous 30 years, as images and imaging applied sciences have transitioned into the digital realm, some manufacturers have disappeared whereas others have remained standing because of the facility of innovation and their skill to adapt rapidly.
During the period when digital images and videography flourished, many manufacturers didn’t survive. Brands resembling Kodak, Agfa, Konica Minolta and Rollei vanished, whereas Fujifilm managed to remain afloat with its modern investments.
Celebrating its ninetieth anniversary this yr, Fujifilm positions itself as one of many foremost expertise firms globally, conducting its operations pushed by the mission to reinforce the standard of life for individuals worldwide.
Fujifilm’s dedication is obvious by way of its Open Innovation Hub, a platform aimed toward fixing societal points and fostering new values below the precedence areas of surroundings, well being, every day life and work fashion, as outlined in its Sustainable Value Plan 2030 (SVP2030).
Building future
Present in Türkiye since 2012 as Fujifilm Foreign Trade Inc., the corporate actively operates in varied sectors together with medical methods, graphic methods, industrial merchandise, digital cameras and picture printing merchandise.
Keitaro So, head of Fujifilm Türkiye and Fujifilm Healthcare Türkiye, attributes the corporate’s success in swiftly adapting to digital transformation to its modern capabilities and strategic acquisitions made on the proper time.
“Fujifilm makes use of ‘open innovation’ strategies to reinforce its innovation actions. It collaborates with companions to develop new options and seeks alternatives to amass applied sciences and companies by way of M&A or small investments in startups. To assist these open innovation approaches, amenities are offered for guests to encourage, talk about and brainstorm,” mentioned Keitaro.
“With the company slogan ‘Value from Innovation,’ Fujifilm brings collectively varied modern applied sciences, views and competencies with a versatile mindset, creating new worth for patrons and constructing a greater future for everybody.”
Innovation competitors
In a bid to encourage innovation amongst Turkish college students, Fujifilm organized an open innovation competitors in 2023, aiming for the creation of high-quality tasks that might be carried out.
The Fujifilm Innovation Competition, with its algorithm named “Özgelecek,” attracted participation from undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate college students, making it one in all Türkiye’s most complete and distinctive competitions.
During the competitors, 95 groups developed tasks below the metaverse class, 21 groups below Fujifilm Technologies, and 183 groups below local weather change.
Segregating waste oil
Its second time period has attracted 1,422 purposes deciding on one of many three classes and making use of by way of kargakarga.com. The groups from 49 totally different cities and 63 universities began not solely a contest but in addition a pure studying course of.
The profitable group within the local weather change class was FAMK, specializing in segregating family waste oil utilizing a CBS system, changing them into biofuel to contribute to the financial system and have interaction the general public within the combat towards local weather change.
The FAMK initiative earned the chance to go to the Fujifilm Innovation Hub.
Ahmet Fatih Akansu, a member of the group alongside Meryem Payveren and Alieren Sarı, visited the middle that opened in July 2022 in Ratingen, Germany.
The heart, constructed upon Fujifilm’s experience in photosensitive supplies, serves as an area the place cutting-edge applied sciences, constantly developed by way of collaborative tasks, are merged with wants and concepts to create new values.
Source: www.dailysabah.com