Ng is the author or co-author of over 100 published papers in machine learning, robotics, and related fields. Photo: Coursera

Money Raised Quickly From Multiple Investment Funds

Machine learning guru Andrew Ng, founder of the Google Brain deep learning project, co-founder of Coursera and Chief Scientist at Baidu, officially announced a long-rumored $175 million fund for new AI businesses built on a model that he developed, according to a story in TechCrunch.com, written by Frederic Lardinois:

“One of my philosophies of building companies is the importance of velocity,” Ng told me. In his view, AI businesses are also different from regular startups because you generally get a closed feedback loop that allows you to quickly see what works (and what doesn’t). “Depending on the vertical, I really value the ability to inject velocity into that positive feedback loop,” said Ng. He also believes that building AI businesses is a more repeatable process than building other startups. Indeed, he stressed that at Baidu, his job was essentially to build a series of teams for building potential AI-related businesses.

The fund investors includ NEA, Sequoia, Greylock Partners and the SoftBank Group, led by Ng as general partner, Eva Wang as partner and COO and Steven Syverud as partner.

After rapidly raising the capital, Ng declined to say what businesses will be launched first, but said two projects were in the works.

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