M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund

It’s clear that AI is no longer a future promise – it’s a present and enduring reality. I started 2024 with a ride in a Wayve autonomous car in London and ended the year in an autonomous taxi with my kids in San Francisco. AI is becoming solidly embedded in the daily lives of many, and it’s only going to grow from here. But what’s next? 2025 will surely be another memorable year. Here I share my thoughts on what I’m watching and excited to see play out in the AI space in the year ahead. What’s on your list?

Our own Andrew Smyth said it best: "The current approach to #observability and reliability engineering is not compatible with the performance demands of modern applications and uptime requirements." 💯 #AI-driven observability solutions are emerging as essential tools to automate manual tasks and enhance root cause analysis, enabling reliability engineers to maintain system performance more effectively. This shift is why we invested in NeuBird.ai - we want to help fuel the evolution of observability from a system of record to a system of insight, fundamentally transforming software system design, optimization, and maintenance. Learn more about how AI is shaping the future of observability: https://lnkd.in/eFREu7bD

In our latest installment of our Founders Feature series, we spoke with Nathan Lile, CEO and co-founder of SynthLabs, a startup that’s developing leading technology for a fully auditable, transparent and robust #AI alignment platform. A few themes Nathan covered: ✅ His founder journey ✅ What makes a strong, cohesive team ✅ His advice for budding entrepreneurs Here's what he had to share with us: https://lnkd.in/eftjGBeh #Startups #OpenSourceAI #FoundersFeature

Congrats to Nuon on their $16.5M in funding and emergence from stealth, announced today! 🎉 Nuon enables software providers to deploy their solutions directly into customers' cloud environments through its Bring Your Own #Cloud (BYOC) platform. This approach enhances data sovereignty, security, and compliance, while providing a seamless #SaaS-like experience. We're proud to support Nuon alongside Uncork Capital, Mantis VC, and Redpoint as they transform software deployment and management in the cloud. ☁️ Read the full story on TechCrunch: https://lnkd.in/g4r3t_Ti

In Q3’24 alone, 20,000+ new GenAI startups spoke for nearly a third of all venture funding. 💰 In a new M12 blog post, Michael Stewart delves into what the #GenAI investment landscape actually looks like and how #VCs and the #startups themselves are investing in its success. Read the full post here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ggyYgeN7

Microsoft (+GitHub) is at the forefront of developer automation and productivity. With generative AI, code and applications are being deployed faster than ever. The engineers maintaining these applications in production, however, cannot keep pace. At M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund we believe AI will help augment & support reliability engineers tasked with managing these systems. Our investment in NeuBird.ai supports this future. Gou Rao and Vinod Jayaraman are building a product that codifies the expertise of seasoned reliability engineers and productizes troubleshooting workflows. NeuBird.ai is helping engineers problem solve quicker, simple!! More from us below:

Our team is elated to share that today, NeuBird.ai announced a $22.5M funding round, led by M12 with additional participation from Mayfield Fund and StepStone Group. 🎉 NeuBird also announced the general availability of its solution Hawkeye, the world’s first #GenAI powered ITOps engineer. A win for IT, DevOps, and site reliability teams everywhere. 🙌 “NeuBird has identified a critical need in IT operations, addressing the complexity and demands faced by modern enterprise teams." - Andrew Smyth, Managing Partner at M12 Read more details about this exciting news on TechCrunch: https://lnkd.in/eCUZpNp5

Thrilled to see Christopher Young's insights on the future of #AI and Microsoft's strategic direction. At M12, we share this vision and are proud to support innovative companies that are shaping the future of technology. Our portfolio companies, such as HiddenLayer, Neon, and Relyance AI, are at the forefront of AI and enterprise solutions, driving impactful change across industries. As Chris mentioned, the alignment towards an AI-powered future is crucial, and our investments reflect this commitment. We are excited to continue partnering with visionary founders and leveraging Microsoft's resources to accelerate their growth and success. #AI #Innovation #FutureTech #Startups

The M12 team is excited to shine the spotlight on Nixtla, a groundbreaking solution in #GenAI for time-series forecasting. 💡 As businesses strive to unlock new efficiencies, Nixtla’s innovative approach redefines forecasting with enhanced accuracy and adaptability, leveraging generative AI to address challenges across diverse industries. This technology represents a new era where #AI not only predicts trends but also empowers businesses to stay ahead of the curve. 💪 We're proud to support this vision, knowing it will drive tangible value for decision-makers and innovators alike. Dive deeper into Nixtla’s transformative work and read the full blog post here: https://lnkd.in/gbTWrsWX

The Allstacks team is ready to change the game for engineering teams. 💪 Between their new Developer Experience (DevEx) capability and their new GitHub Copilot Integration, engineers have greater visibility into how teams work, collaborate, and grow together. 🌱 According to the Allstacks team, "Engineering leaders can now correlate AI tool adoption with developer satisfaction, understand how automated assistance impacts team morale, and identify where technology investments are yielding the best returns." Learn more about these impressive new capabilities here: https://lnkd.in/g2BJvjah #AI #GitHub #DevEx