2020 has been a challenging year! While it seems the world has stopped while we deal with the pandemic, innovation in areas such as AI skyrocket. So, what is the AI investment landscape in 2020?

As of June 1, 2020, about 800 VC AI deals have been conducted for a total of about $9B. Note we’re only at the ½ year mark and deal flows between June and Dec 2020, can catch up and exceed that of 2019. This compares to the full year of 2019 of about 2937 deals for about $28B. This early part of 2020 was the shock period of the pandemic. Companies were getting used to the new way of working, learning how to adapt and innovate in this new world, and we have seen things improve dramatically post June of 2020. Also, in the early days, VC investments were cautious, and startups were panicking for the most part. Now we are speeding ahead.

I believe that the number of deals and the overall amount of investment will adjust rapidly in the second half of 2020. While lower than overall 2019 investments, AI will still represent one of the highest areas of investments in 2020. This means that we will see great activity in the AI development market, providing applications and products to more companies, AI-enabling many companies across all sectors. Hence, we will see AI growth across sectors. This will of course fuel AI investments at a greater amount in 2021 and beyond. Important to note that overall VC investments in 2020 have been much higher than expected, given the state of the world.

Stay tuned as I send updates on 2020 VC investments across other major sectors such as transportation and others!

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