Samsung NEXT announces Q Fund to invest in unconventional AI startups

Samsung NEXT, the venture capital arm that focuses on investing in software and services to complement Samsung’s hardware, has announced the creation of ‘Samsung NEXT Q Fund’ to invest in next-generation AI startups and ideas. The fund will provide seed and Series A funding for ‘non-obvious’ and ‘forward-thinking’ AI ideas.

According to the press release, Q Fund will invest in areas such as “learning in simulation, scene understanding, intuitive physics, program learning programs, automl, robot control, human-computer interaction and meta learning.” The fund is focused on unconventional approaches to AI problems that are immune to traditional methods. It has recently invested in Covariant.AI which applies novel approaches to teach new and complex skills to robots.

Revenue models are not the top priority

The Samsung NEXT team will work with many leading researchers in the field to identify the right investment opportunities for Q Fund. Since the fund is focused on more futuristic and complex AI challenges, revenue models are not the top priority. Samsung NEXT is taking a long-term view of the Q Fund investments considering the global economy is barely scratching the surface of what AI can accomplish in the future.

“For the past ten years, we’ve watched software eat the world. Now, it’s AI’s turn to eat software. We’re launching Q Fund to support the next generation of AI startups who look to scratch beyond the surface of what we know today,” said Vincent Tang, Samsung NEXT Ventures.