Laurene Powell Jobs speaks on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)
steve jennings
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter by Robert Frank, a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. Sign up to receive future editions directly to your inbox.
News that Laurene Powell Jobs is investing in a new artificial intelligence “computing device,” according to the latest data, highlights her growing appetite for AI startups.
Emerson Collective, Powell Jobs’ family office, investment firm and philanthropy, has been involved in at least nine AI-related companies since 2022, according to data provided exclusively to CNBC by private wealth intelligence platform Fintrx. Investing in start-up companies.
Emerson’s AI investments include a New York-based AI medical company, a San Jose, Calif.-based image analysis company, a French developer of large-scale language models, and a Norwegian creator of AI presentations used by teachers. It is spreading throughout the industry.
The amount of Emerson’s AI investment was not disclosed. According to Fintrx, Emerson Collective has participated in AI funding rounds totaling over $1 billion.
Representatives for Emerson Collective declined to comment.
Emerson does not disclose its total assets under management. Powell Jobs, a philanthropist, investor, and widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, has a net worth of $11.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Emerson’s primary focus is on education, the environment, and health care. In total, Emerson has more than 130 investments, with more than half in technology, 48 in healthcare and life sciences, and the remainder in energy, agriculture, education and human services, media and other sectors, according to Finxtrx. is. Raffi Krikorian, a former Uber and Twitter executive, is Emerson’s chief technology officer.
The New York Times reported this week that Jony Ive, a prominent Apple designer who worked closely with Steve Jobs and left the company in 2019, is working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. reported that it is developing a new “computing device” to utilize AI. Their business aims to raise up to $1 billion by the end of the year, and Emerson Collective is one of the founding investors, along with Ive, according to the report.
AI is the most popular investment theme for family offices in 2024. According to the UBS Global Family Office Report, 78% of family offices surveyed plan to invest in AI within the next two to three years, the most of any investment category.
Powell Jobs started investing in AI before OpenAI launched ChatGPT and sparked the current AI investment and consumer boom. In June 2022, Emerson made an $80 million C-round investment in Proximie, a health tech company whose platform is used to connect operating rooms. In August 2022, it invested in a $14 million Series A round in Atropos Health, which provides clinical data to doctors.
Emerson’s investments include a $4.6 million seed round in Norway’s Curipod, which helps teachers create interactive lessons, and a $415 million Series A round in Mistral, a French maker of large-scale language models. We continued to invest in AI startups around the world.
Emerson’s two most recent AI investments are AI pharmaceutical company Formation Bio, which raised $372 million in June, and a follow-on round of $33 million in Atropos.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the number of artificial intelligence startups Laurene Powell Jobs’ family office, Emerson Collective, has invested in since 2022.
