Microsoft Invests in Two More Artificial Intelligence Startups

The technology titan is bullish on AI lately and that zeal is extending beyond its own product portfolio and into its investment strategy. Late last year, Microsoft Ventures invested in Element AI, an AI research lab and incubator based in Montreal, using a new fund earmarked for AI investments. The latest AI innovator to catch Microsoft's attention is Agolo, a New York City software maker that uses contextual AI to analyze content and distill it into summaries that deliver key points to users depending on their interests. On May 3, the startup announced it had raised $3.5 million in a round of financing led by Microsoft Ventures and CRV. Remarks from Nagraj Kashyap, corporate vice president at Microsoft Ventures, reveal how Agolo's technology aligns with Microsoft's focus on productivity technologies that help "empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more," according to the company's mission statement. "By applying its summarization system to news, chat, voice and video content, Agolo enables efficient consumption of large amounts of data, increasing productivity in the workplace," Kashyap wrote in a blog post.