AI Fund

Leland Lai joins the AI Fund ecosystem as a Founder in Residence. A seasoned entrepreneur, he is building an autonomous drone company in Taiwan. Leland got his start launching companies in Hutchison Telecom’s corporate development unit, including Orange (sold to France Telecom) and Star TV (sold to News Corp). He led Cortelco’s wireless division to an IPO as part of eOn Communications (NASDAQ: EONC). He served as GM of Terayon (acquired by Motorola) and was the Managing Director of Asia for GSMA, the mobile industry trade group. He’s since led numerous strategic consulting engagements on telecom and drones for companies such as Meta and DISH Network’s acquisition of GenMobile. He holds an MBA and BS in mechanical engineering from UCLA. Welcome aboard Leland!

AI Fund is happy to announce our new strategic partnership with KX to co-build and grow exciting new AI companies. 🤝💡 KX is the venture capital arm of Thailand’s KASIKORN Business-Technology Group [KBTG]. Through this joint effort, we will collaborate to build new companies together and strengthen connections between our respective ecosystems. "KXVC offers a powerful connection to the tech community in Thailand and across Southeast Asia. Under Krating Poonpol's leadership, KBTG has become a leading advocate for human-first AI solutions. We look forward to partnering with KBTG to identify novel startup opportunities to co-build to serve the Thailand as well as global market." says Andrew Ng.

Everything founders need to know about a strong technical team! In this engaging fireside chat, Lumen Sivitz will share insider secrets and proven strategies for recruiting top engineering talent and adapting your hiring practices to match your company's growth stage. 📈 🔑 Key takeaways: - Proven techniques for attracting the best engineers - Tailoring your hiring approach to your startup's unique needs - Overcoming common recruiting challenges - Actionable tips and tricks for building an unbeatable tech team Register here 👇

Welcome Michael B.!    One of our newest Founders in Residence, Michael joins our ecosystem to build an AI for climatetech venture.    A seasoned entrepreneur, Michael has built several successful companies across the energy sector. Most recently, he founded Sentient Energy, a distribution grid management and analytics platform, and led it to acquisition by Koch Industries. He previously joined the founding team at BPL Global (acquired by Qualitrol/Danaher) and was an early employee at BigBand Networks (IPO). He also served as an entrepreneur in residence with the US Department of Energy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.    Welcome aboard Michael!  

Join us for a spirited conversation with Andrew Ng and Roy E. Bahat (head of Bloomberg Beta) as they discuss what companies need to know for their AI transformation.

It’s an exciting day for AI Fund, as we celebrate our partnership with The AES Corporation!  Together, we will co-build companies that leverage AI to revolutionize the energy sector and power a greener, smarter future. 🚀🌱 "Under Andrés Gluski's visionary leadership, AES is a major force in the US energy infrastructure's transition to renewables. AI, itself a significant contributor to energy demand, has an important role to play to support this transition. I am thrilled to have an opportunity for AI Fund to participate in projects that will drive significant efficiencies in the production, transmission, and consumption of energy," says Andrew Ng. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/exARP4Fc _ #AES #AIFund #RenewableEnergy #Sustainability #AI

Our CTO, Carlos Alzate, has been named among the Most Influential People in AI by the Distrito de Emprendimiento Medellín. Carlos is a key leader in the Colombian AI community and an important mentor in the AI Fund ecosystem. Congratulations Carlos! https://lnkd.in/eEDVSkNv

Kian Katanforoosh, CEO of Workera, says an AI-ready workforce consists of 4 groups: - Technical AI specialists (engineers who develop models and platforms) - "AI + X" SMEs (subject matter experts who leverage AI in other areas like finance or media) - AI fluent workers & AI literate workers (“AI is not only requiring us to develop AI skills, but is also impacting non-AI skills,” such as learning agility, problem-solving, creative thinking, and even behavioral skills including empathy and being comfortable with change," says Katanforoosh) https://lnkd.in/eUfjVner

Welcome aboard Xavier Casanova! Xavier joins AI Fund as a Founder in Residence, where he will be developing a project in the AI Enterprise space. A serial entrepreneur, he’s founded numerous companies, starting with Fireclick, one of the earliest Web analytics companies. After Fireclick was acquired by Digital River, he founded Liveclicker and led it as CEO for 10 years. Campaign Monitor acquired Liveclicker in 2018. Most recently, he was CEO of Presto Automation (NASDAQ: PRST), which provides enterprise-grade AI and automation solutions to the restaurant industry. Glad to have you here Xavier!

Last call for pitch deck reviews! We have a live masterclass with pitch doctor Matt W Gore next week. Submit your deck by June 12 and you can get live feedback on how to improve it (email decks to dan @ aifund . ai). Either way, join us for this interactive session and learn how to avoid the top mistakes founders make in their pitch decks. Register -- link in comments