Radical Ventures has launched a $350 million fund focused primarily on artificial intelligence (AI), backed by limited partners including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, TD Bank Group and Wittington Investments.

"AI is perhaps the most disruptive technology since electricity,” said Jordan Jacobs, managing partner at Radical Ventures. “It will transform the world, impacting everyone, and we are just at the beginning of its application.”

Jacobs previously co-founded and was co-chief executive of Layer 6, an AI company that deployed a proprietary deep learning prediction engine for banks. It was acquired 15 months after launch in January 2018 by TD Bank Group, where he became senior vice president and chief AI officer. Benji Sucher, former chief operating officer of Layer 6, is also a co-founder at Radical and a general partner of the new fund.

In 2017, Jacobs and Layer 6 co-founder Tomi Poutanen co-founded the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence along with 2019 Turing Award winner Geoffrey Hinton - often called the godfather of AI - and a core group of machine learning professors at The University of Toronto and former TD Bank chief executive Ed Clark.

Clark is joining Radical as a partner. Long-time McKinsey & Company global managing director Dominic Barton also joins Radical as senior advisor. They will help portfolio companies by providing mentoring and advice and access to their extensive global networks.

A statement explained that the fund’s base in Toronto, Canada, has seen a recent explosion of AI startups, disrupting industries from healthcare to finance, smart cities and manufacturing.

Salim Teja, former president for venture services of the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, also joins Radical as partner and general manager. Teja's responsibilities will include overseeing Radical's Impact Team, designed to help portfolio companies accelerate their global growth.

The Radical Fund I concentrates on pre-seed and seed investments, while Fund II is concentrated primarily on Series A stage investments with the ability to continue making investments through the growth stages of its portfolio companies.

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