Toyota investing $100m in new venture that will “bring disruptive tech to market faster”
Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is investing an initial $100m to launch Toyota AI Ventures, a new corporate venture capital subsidiary which will provide early-stage financing for “disruptive” startup technology companies. The venture will cultivate select start-ups by offering them mentorship and support on-site at TRI’s Silicon Valley headquarters. Investment will focus in the areas of:
- Artificial Intelligence;
- Robotics;
- Autonomous Mobility; and
- Data and Cloud Technology.
TRI launched the venture by announcing that it has made initial investments three technology companies: Nauto, which provides a monitoring system for professional drivers and fleet managers; SLAMcore, which creates advanced algorithms designed to help technology platforms like autonomous vehicles and drones build a map of their surroundings; and Intuition Robotics, a developer of social companion technology.
Toyota said the new venture will pursue a “call and response” model, which means it will “identify key research challenges and then support the creation of new companies offering to solve them”.
Jim Adler, TRI’s vice president of data and business development, commented: “A lot of disruptive technologies come from startups and we want to help them be successful.
“One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is knowing if they’re building the right product for the right market. We can help them navigate that uncertainty, and we’re committed to doing so in a founder-friendly way because their success is our success.”
