In recent months, venture capitalists from the U.S. and Britain have been eager to secure the next big deal in artificial intelligence (AI) on the turf of Big Tech companies. In particular, some of these investors have set their sights on a new AI startup based in Paris, called Dust, which aims to revolutionize how people work using AI tools to improve white-collar workers’ productivity.
Despite having only two people on its team and not yet being incorporated, Dust attracted interest from several top investment firms. Among them was Coatue Management, which made a generous proposal that was ultimately turned down by the startup. Instead, Dust accepted an offer from Sequoia Capital, which led a significant seed fundraising round of $5 million.
Competition in the AI space has intensified due to the rapid push by tech giants like Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corp to gain an edge. As a result, startups in this field are receiving offers from investors and closing deals within days instead of weeks. This increased interest in AI is a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish venture-capital market.
Overall, this trend indicates that the race to find the next big AI deal is heating up, with venture capitalists seeking to secure their slice of the pie by investing in startups that can rival the established players in Silicon Valley. Dust’s success in securing funding despite being a small and relatively unknown startup shows that there is still significant potential for new players to enter the AI market and disrupt the status quo.
