Microsoft
Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft is a $3T+ technology company and one of the world's largest corporate venture investors. Through M12 (est. 2016, formerly Microsoft Ventures), its corporate VC arm led by Michelle Gonzalez, Microsoft invests $150m to $275m annually from its balance sheet via an evergreen fund structure. M12 has invested in 252+ companies producing 16 unicorns, 4 IPOs, and 57 acquisitions, including Cloudflare and Innovaccer. In 2023 M12 shifted to a thesis-driven model aligned with Microsoft's AI, cloud, and cybersecurity priorities. Separately, Microsoft made a landmark $13B cumulative investment in OpenAI and committed $100B to the Stargate AI infrastructure project.
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2 companies in our directory
Wayve
HiringWayve is a London-based autonomous driving company pioneering an AI-first approach to self-driving vehicles. Rather than relying on detailed 3D maps and hand-coded rules, Wayve uses end-to-end deep learning so its AI driver learns directly from camera data and real-world driving experience. The company has partnered with major automakers and logistics firms to bring its technology to production vehicles. Backed by SoftBank, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Uber, Wayve closed a landmark $1.05B Series C in 2024, the largest ever AI funding round by a European company at the time, and has been in discussions for a potential $2B follow-on round.
Graphcore
HiringGraphcore is a Bristol-based AI semiconductor company founded in 2016 by serial semiconductor entrepreneurs Nigel Toon and Simon Knowles. Toon previously led XMOS and Picochip, while Knowles co-founded Element14 (acquired by Broadcom) and Icera (acquired by NVIDIA for $435M). The company developed Intelligence Processing Units (IPUs), novel AI accelerators designed from the ground up for machine learning workloads, alongside the proprietary Poplar graph programming framework. Graphcore raised $767M in total funding, reaching a $2.77B valuation, with backing from Sequoia Capital, Atomico, Amadeus, Microsoft, and others. In July 2024, SoftBank Group acquired Graphcore for approximately $500M to $600M. The company continues to operate from Bristol with plans to expand its UK headcount to 750.