Temasek backs OpenAI Investor’s new $250 million technology fund

(Bloomberg) — Alpha Intelligence Capital, which invests in artificial intelligence companies including OpenAI, is raising a $250 million fund and has attracted government entities from France and Singapore as backers.

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AIC has raised $160 million for the fund, its second, and is on track for a final close in September, partners Arnaud Barthelemy and Terry Chou said. France’s Bpifrance, Taiwan’s CDIB Capital Group and a Singapore state fund are participating, they said.

The new AIC fund is now operational and its first investments include ChatGPT creator OpenAI and computational architecture startup FlexAI. The Luxembourg-based fund is betting that businesses and consumers around the world will continue to adopt AI at a rapid pace, fueled by the popularity of services like chatbot ChatGPT.

Singapore’s state-owned Temasek Holdings Pte is among the investors in the new fund, a person familiar with the deal said. AIC Partners declined to confirm that name, and a Temasek representative declined to comment. AIC is in talks with two more sovereign investors and a global lender to close the fund, the partners said.

AIC’s previous investments include Chinese AI developer SenseTime Group Inc., a bet it has largely backed away from. Its first fund also included AI startups that were eventually acquired by Apple Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and BioNTech SE, said Chou, who is based at AIC’s Asia headquarters in Singapore.

Venture capital firms are raising billions of dollars around the world to support technologies like generative AI, which powers chatbots like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft Corp.’s Copilot. These investors hope that AI-powered tools will reshape traditional ways of doing business and help solve technological challenges.

Still, growing interest in AI sometimes leads to inflated valuations for startups with unclear monetization paths, said Barthelemy, also AIC’s chief operating officer.

“Our investors are convinced that AI will have a profound impact on their respective businesses across all sectors and that this is just the beginning,” he said. “Our investors trust our expertise to help them navigate the AI ​​hype.”

The fund will consider companies across the AI ​​value chain, including hardware startups, Chou said. The focus will be on companies deploying AI for applications, cybersecurity and gaming, she said. The fund will invest globally, excluding China.

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–With assistance from David Ramli.

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