Bernard Arnault's family office is looking to invest in AI startups.
- This year, Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, has made several investments in artificial intelligence through his family office, Aglaé Ventures.
- This year, the largest funding round, according to Fintrx, was for a French startup, H, which was previously known as Holistic AI, and is working towards achieving full artificial general intelligence.
- Fintrx reports that Aglaé's investments in AI firms exceeded $300 million, although the specific amounts are not disclosed.
The original article was published in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, providing a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. To receive future editions, subscribe and have them delivered directly to your email inbox.
Luxury king Bernard Arnault is shopping for AI companies.
Aglaé Ventures, the tech-focused venture firm and family office of Arnault, founder and CEO of and the world's fourth-richest person with a net worth of $184 billion, has made a string of artificial intelligence investments this year.
In 2024, Aglaé made five AI-related investments, totaling more than $300 million, according to Fintrx.
H, a French startup working towards full artificial general intelligence, raised the largest funding round this year with a $220 million round in May. The round, which also included Aglaé, valued the company at $370 million. H was founded by former members of DeepMind AI unit and includes venture firm Accel Partners LP and Wendy and Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, as investors.
In April, Aglaé participated in a $12 million series A round for Proxima, a New York-based AI-powered digital marketing company. Additionally, in May, Aglaé invested in a $25 million seed round for Lamini, a Palo Alto, California-based startup developing enterprise AI applications.
Susquehanna invested in both Borderless AI and Photoroom, with a $27 million seed round for the Toronto-based HR management platform and a $43 million investment round for the France-based AI image editor in February.
Aglaé invested in four funding rounds for Paris-based Meero, an AI-powered photo creation company, between 2017 and 2019, according to Fintrx.
This year, the family office invested in Sonarverse, an Irvine, California-based blockchain company, and Shimmer, a San Francisco-based provider of ADHD coaching, in addition to its other investments.
According to Fintrx data, Aglaé has invested a total of 153 times since 2017, with the majority of investments being in technology (53), followed by consumer goods (17), business services (13), and financial services (12).
Aglaé has invested in multiple rounds of funding for Back Market, a French-based marketplace for refurbished electronics products that in 2022 reported a valuation of $5.7 billion. Additionally, Aglaé has invested in Noom, a digital health platform, and World Music Media, a music creation app.
The Arnault family's significant ownership and control of LVMH, with 48% of shares and 64% of voting rights, make it unnecessary for Aglaé to invest in luxury.
Despite being big art collectors, Arnault and his family are also investors in the digital art platform LaCollection, where Aglaé invested $9.5 million in a funding round. Additionally, LVMH has expanded rapidly in the luxury watch segment, and Aglaé was an investor in the $108 million funding round for watch trading platform Chrono24 in 2021.
Despite being renowned for his commitment to luxury craftsmanship, historic brands, and emotional connections to designs and artists, Arnault is also a tech enthusiast with a history of supporting successful tech startups. His family office was an early investor in 1999, 2014, and 2015.
In his speech at the LVMH Innovation Awards in May, Arnault revealed that he invested in 75 startups during the 1990s, with some of them achieving success while many others failed.
"Our values align closely with the startup mentality, which emphasizes creativity, quality, practicality, entrepreneurship, and purpose," he stated.
Business News
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