As a venture capitalist, Jim Breyer has invested in many breakthrough technology ideas in recent decades, names we all know and interact with on a daily basis like Meta and Spotify. But the biggest one of all may be next, he says, through the combination of artificial intelligence and branches of science involved in medicine. Since 2017, Breyer says his No. 1 task as a venture investor has focused on finding the best disease and medical data from leading research hospitals such as Memorial Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson, and Johns Hopkins -- highly proprietary, significant data to license into startups Breyer Capital is backing. "AI and medicine is perhaps the most attractive new investment opportunity I've ever seen," Breyer, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital, said at last week's CNBC Healthy Returns virtual summit. Breyer says he is not alone among tech leaders holding this view, citing a fireside chat he recently conducted with Michael Dell, during which the PC pioneer agreed, and private conversations he has had with tech CEOs.

Betterplace Safety Solutions Pvt Ltd, a platform that manages the semi-formal workforce, has raised $3 million (Rs 20.4 crore) in a Series A round of funding from a new investor 3one4 Capital, a top executive told VCCircle. Existing investors Venture Highway and Unitus Ventures also participated in the round, said Pravin Agarwala, co-founder and chief executive, BetterPlace. The fresh funding will help the company expand its solutions into skilling, compliance and fintech services as it aims to consolidate its position as a single platform for the semi-formal workforce in the country. "A significant part of the funds will be utilised to strengthen the existing ecosystem using frictionless solutions powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning," added Agarwala. The Bangalore-based company had initially raised $970,000 (Rs 6.6 crore) in seed funding from India-focused early-stage investor Unitus Ventures in February 2016.