As part of Salesforce's big tech conference, Dreamforce, taking place in San Francisco this week, the company's venture capital arm, Salesforce Ventures, announced a new $500 million fund dedicated to AI companies. This is significant for a few reasons. First, in June 2023, Salesforce Ventures is doubling its AI fund from $250 million to $500 million, and the additional $500 million will bring the AI fund to $1 billion. This will match the total of $5 billion put into it in the first 15 years since its launch in 2009.
Salesforce Ventures is also helping make San Francisco a hotspot for AI companies, and is one of the driving forces behind startups from around the world relocating to the city. For example, like many VC firms, the venture arm hosts dinners for portfolio companies and Fortune 500 executives (i.e. potential clients). It's no surprise that the company's AI portfolio is already garnering attention and includes Anthropic, Hugging Face, Runway, and Together AI.