At Radical Ventures, we are deep believers in the transformative power of AI. We believe that AI is not just a technology, but the catalyst of a fundamental shift in how we live, work, and interact with the world. Our thesis is simple: partner with exceptional founders who are leveraging AI to build truly disruptive companies intent on making the world a better place. I say ‘partner’ because we are not just investors; we are truly partners in their journey to redefine industries and invent new ones.
Our commitment to supporting our founders’ journey is reflected in the creation of Radical’s first venture growth fund. We will invest in growth-stage technology companies with a focus on AI-first products and AI-enhanced businesses. This fund is designed to fuel the next chapter of growth for scaling companies.
Radical has built deep relationships with early stage companies, helping them scale into global businesses. As AI company founders ourselves, and with a team built around the needs of AI startups, Radical is uniquely positioned to provide growth stage companies with the strategic guidance, capital, and network support needed to accelerate growth.
Our industry experience and access to talent allows us to identify groundbreaking companies, and to provide the support needed to turn them into global champions. With this new fund that complements our early-stage fund, we are excited to partner with exceptional teams building the most ambitious AI-first businesses, as they enter the growth phase of their journey.
Read more in the Financial Times.
AI News This Week
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Production issues threaten to delay next generation of Nvidia AI chips (Financial Times)
Nvidia and TSMC are facing production challenges with next-generation AI chips due to TSMC’s new CoWoS-L packaging, potentially delaying shipments to key customers like Microsoft and Amazon. This could impact industries relying on Nvidia’s GPUs, but analysts expect a recovery as issues are resolved. The global demand for high-performance chips is not a new challenge for the industry. Companies are emerging to address this global bottleneck including CentML, a Radical Ventures portfolio company, which reduces deployment costs while optimizing existing GPU infrastructure.
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How the world’s oldest humpback whale has survived is a mystery (The New York Times)
AI is revolutionizing whale research and deepening our understanding of their lives. Old Timer, a male humpback whale first photographed in 1972, was recently sighted in Alaska’s Frederick Sound, making him the oldest known humpback whale at over 53 years old. Despite challenges like a devastating marine heat wave from 2014 to 2016, Old Timer has survived while many others have not. Dr. Adam A. Pack, a marine mammal researcher, is using AI platforms like Happywhale, which employs photo-matching algorithms, to study how whales like Old Timer have adapted to these harsh conditions. This AI-driven approach is transforming the field, fostering large-scale collaborations, and revealing new insights into whale resilience and survival.
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Piecing together an ancient epic was slow work. Until AI got involved (The New York Times)
The use of AI has brought significant advancements to the study of ancient texts, particularly the Epic of Gilgamesh. Enrique Jiménez and his team at the Institute of Assyriology of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have developed an AI project called Fragmentarium, which has accelerated the process of piecing together fragments of the epic. This technology has led to the discovery of new segments of Gilgamesh and other ancient works, providing deeper insights into these texts. The AI-driven project has matched over 1,500 tablet fragments since 2018, uncovering details previously unknown, such as additional lines from Gilgamesh’s interactions and quests.
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'What am I supposed to do with these CD-ROMs?': The benefits and challenges of implementing electronic medical records in Canada (CTV News)
Despite widespread use of EMRs, interoperability issues prevent effective data sharing, leaving many providers reliant on outdated technologies like fax machines and CD-ROMS. Canada’s Fragmented healthcare systems complicate the adoption of connected care solutions. PocketHealth, a Radical Ventures portfolio company, offers a cloud-based medical image-sharing platform that empowers patients by giving them control over their health data. Improving EMR systems is crucial for reducing physician burnout and enhancing patient care across the country.
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Research: Practice makes perfect: planning to learn skill parameter policies (MIT CSAIL)
Researchers from MIT CSAIL and The AI Institute have developed the “Estimate, Extrapolate, and Situate” (EES) algorithm, enabling robots to autonomously identify and practice skills needing improvement. Tested on Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot, EES allowed it to quickly learn tasks like placing a ball on a slanted table and sweeping toys into a bin, significantly faster than previous methods. There have been meaningful advances in AI for robotics research in the past several months. Earlier this year, researchers at Covariant, a Radical Ventures portfolio company, introduced RFM-1 — a Robotics Foundation Model trained on both general internet data as well as data that is rich in physical real-world interactions — a leap forward toward building generalized AI models that can accurately simulate and operate in the demanding conditions of the physical world.
Radical Reads is edited by Leah Morris (Senior Director, Velocity Program, Radical Ventures).
