Cisco Investments, the global corporate venture investment arm of Cisco launched a $1B AI investment fund to bolster the startup ecosystem and expand the development of secure and reliable AI solutions. As part of the new AI fund, Cisco is making strategic investments in Cohere, Mistral AI and Scale AI among others. Cisco has already committed nearly $200M of the $1B investment fund to date.

Over the past several years, Cisco has made over 20 AI-focused acquisitions and investments, furthering GenAI and Machine Learning capabilities and integration of AI across the Cisco portfolio. In addition to these investments, Cisco will also be working with AI companies on product collaborations that allow Cisco to co-innovate, while also being an agnostic provider and platform player in AI, offering options and coverage for Cisco’s global customer base.

The committed investments in the new AI fund include:

• Cohere: Headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, Cohere provides security-focused frontier large language models (LLMs) and industry-leading Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) capabilities tailored to meet the needs of enterprises.
• Mistral AI: Mistral AI is a global company headquartered in Paris specializing in generative artificial intelligence. The company develops new models of generative artificial intelligence for businesses, combining scientific excellence, an open approach and a responsible vision of technology.
• Scale AI: Based in the U.S., Scale AI provides a data-centric, end-to-end platform providing training and validation for AI applications. Cisco recently participated in Scale AI’s Series F funding as the round’s largest strategic investor.

“The establishment of our $1 billion AI investment fund is a testament to our commitment to the transformative power of artificial intelligence and its potential to redefine industries globally,” said Derek Idemoto, SVP, Corporate Development and Cisco Investments. “This fund represents our unwavering commitment to AI and innovation, and to the entrepreneurs and visionaries who are defining the next wave of technology.”

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Cisco announced that it will acquire cybersecurity and observability company Splunk for $157 per share in cash, representing approximately $28 billion in equity value. 

Forbes reported that the acquisition marks “one of the largest acquisitions of 2023 and the AI era”.

Splunk’s AI powered security and observability offerings are used by organizations worldwide. The company has the likes of Coca Cola, Honda, Dominos and Hyatt as key customers. It holds over 1,100 patents in the field.  

Post the acquisition, Splunk President and CEO Gary Steele will join Cisco’s Executive Leadership Team reporting to Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins.

With the addition of Splunk capabilities and and products to the portfolio, Cisco aims to address the security concerns arising from the accelerated adoption of Generative AI and multicloud environments. The company said that Splunk’s security capabilities complement Cisco’s existing portfolio, and together, will provide security analytics and coverage from devices to applications to clouds. 

“We’re excited to bring Cisco and Splunk together. Our combined capabilities will drive the next generation of AI-enabled security and observability,” said Chuck Robbins, chair and CEO of Cisco. “From threat detection and response to threat prediction and prevention, we will help make organizations of all sizes more secure and resilient.”

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