Laurene Powell Jobs speaks on stage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)
Steve Jennings
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. Register to receive future issues, directly to your inbox.
News that Laurene Powell Jobs is investing in a new AI “computing device” highlights her growing appetite for AI startups, according to recent data.
Emerson Collective, Powell Jobs' family office, investment and philanthropy firm, has invested in at least nine AI-related startups since 2022, according to data provided exclusively to CNBC by Fintrx, the private wealth intelligence platform.
Emerson's AI bets span the globe and industry, including a New York-based medical AI company, a San Jose, California-based image analyzer, a French developer of large language models, and a creator Norwegian of AI presentations used by teachers.
The dollar amounts of Emerson's AI investments are not disclosed. According to Fintrx, Emerson Collective has participated in AI funding rounds totaling over $1 billion.
A representative for Emerson Collective declined to comment.
Emerson does not disclose its total assets under management. Powell Jobs, philanthropist, investor and widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, has a net worth of $11.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Emerson primarily focuses on education, the environment and healthcare. According to Finxtrx, Emerson has made more than 130 investments in total, more than half in technology, 48 in healthcare and life sciences, and the rest in energy, agriculture, education and human services, media and other categories. Raffi Krikorian, a former Uber and Twitter executive, is Emerson's chief technology officer.
The New York Times reported this week that Jony Ive, the celebrated Apple designer who worked closely with Steve Jobs and left the company in 2019, is teaming up with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to create a new “device “computer” to use AI. His company aims to raise up to $1 billion by the end of the year, and Emerson Collective is one of its founding investors along with Ive, according to the report.
AI has become the most popular investment theme for family offices in 2024. According to the UBS Global Family Office Report, 78% of family offices surveyed plan to invest in AI in the next two to three years, the largest amount for any investment category.
Powell Jobs began investing in AI even before OpenAI launched ChatGPT, kick-starting the current AI investment and consumer craze. In June 2022, Emerson invested in an $80 million C round in Proximie, a healthcare technology company whose platform is used to connect operating rooms. In August 2022, it invested in a $14 million Series A round for Atropos Health, which provides doctors with clinical data.
Emerson went on to invest in AI startups around the world, including a $4.6 million seed round for Norway's Curipod, which helps teachers create interactive lessons, and a $415 million Series A round. dollars for Mistral, the French manufacturer of large language models.
Emerson's two most recent AI investments are Formation Bio, an AI pharmaceutical company, which raised $372 million in June, and a $33 million follow-on round for Atropos.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the number of AI startups Laurene Powell Jobs' family office, Emerson Collective, has invested in since 2022.
