Scion of Canada’s Richest Family Looks to Deepen AI Bets

Posted by Admin October 10, 2024 Tech

Amid fast-evolving technology Allspring Global Investments fund manager Mike Smith breaks down the biggest players in AI right now.

(Bloomberg) — The venture capital firm for a member of Canada’s richest family is looking for more artificial intelligence deals as global companies adopt the technology to enhance productivity and security.

Thomvest Ventures, billionaire Peter Thomson’s namesake firm based in Toronto and San Francisco, led a $32.1 million round in AI-powered data governance platform Relyance AI, according to a statement Thursday. The investment adds to Thomvest’s previous AI bets, including Cohere Inc. and Opaque Systems LLC. M12, Microsoft’s venture capital fund, and Cheyenne Ventures also participated in the round, along with existing investors Menlo Ventures and Unusual Ventures, according to the statement.

Relyance AI is an automated platform that checks live data for compliance with customer agreements, global privacy regulations and compliance frameworks. Coinbase Global Inc., Snowflake Inc. and Logitech International SA are clients.

Thomvest has seen lucrative returns from its AI investments so far. Cohere, its first generative AI bet, reached a valuation of $5.5 billion in July, more than doubling the series B round from June 2023. Cohere is a Toronto-based startup co-founded by Aidan Gomez that builds and customizes large language models — software trained on massive swaths of the internet to analyze and generate text.

“AI is just about at an inflection point,” Umesh Padval, managing director of Thomvest, said in an interview. “You have to make sure you need to focus on the right companies in AI.”

The venture capital firm will keep hunting for companies leveraging AI in sectors such as cybersecurity, privacy, compliance and development tools, Padval said.

The global market for AI-related products is predicted to reach $990 billion in 2027 as the technology’s quick adoption disrupts companies and economies, Bain & Co. said in a report last month.

Thomvest expects more consolidation in the sector.

“There was a crazy rush from all the investors to invest in AI companies,” Padval said. “When in a particular area of AI you have 50 companies, only one or two are going to survive and do well.”

Padval also sees AI graduates from Canadian universities helping to accelerate development and startup growth in Toronto, Thomson’s hometown.

Geoffrey Hinton, professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Toronto and the “godfather of AI,” won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday.

Thomvest manages $750 million of the $12 billion fortune amassed by Thomson, part of the family that owns media empire Thomson Reuters Corp. (Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, competes with Reuters as a provider of financial news and services.) Thomvest has made more than 80 deals since 1996, and launched a $250 million fund earlier this year.

Thomson, 59, is co-chairman, with his brother David, of The Woodbridge Co., which manages the wealth originated by his grandfather Roy Thomson’s investments in Canadian and British media outlets. The Thomson family is worth about $90 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.