Family office of technology tycoon invests in AI to support $10 billion fund.

PremjiInvest, the leading Indian family office overseeing more than $10 billion for software magnate Azim Premji, plans to increase investments in artificial intelligence companies and enhance its in-house AI investment tools, according to a senior executive at the company.

The firm, which was among the first major Indian asset managers to use AI tools in the private equity sector, is now working on AI quantum modeling for its public market bets as well, TK Kurien, its managing director and chief investment officer, said in his first speech. after being interviewed in 2017. The asset manager, which has seen “exponential returns,” also plans to invest more in the AI space, he said.

Investment firms worldwide, including BlackRock Inc. and SoftBank Group Corp, rely on artificial intelligence to analyze data streams in real time to gather market intelligence and plan to invest more in the sector. PremjiInvest started developing AI tools three years ago and hired 14 AI engineers, according to Kurien. At the same time, it began to support companies that were aiming for the nascent technology space.

Artificial intelligence helps the asset manager research more than 10,000 companies worldwide using 600 parameters to identify investment opportunities. The company expects the entire exercise will also give it a bird’s-eye view of new technologies and trends that can help it stay ahead of the pack, Kurien said.

Cohesity Inc. – a data management software company, Holistic AI – a London-based enterprise software business, Ikigai and Pixis are the industry companies that PremjiInvest has backed so far.

Kurien plans to give open source developers access to some of its AI tools. The fund’s planners will also develop platforms that will help India’s overburdened courts resolve cases faster and also help governments’ efforts to deliver services more efficiently, he said.

Investment strategy

Technology and financial services will be the top sectors in which PremjiInvest invests, Kurien said. In the Indian private market, the other two sectors the company invests in are consumer and healthcare. In the US, investments are focused on the healthcare and technology sectors.

Premji, the reclusive billionaire founder of Wipro Ltd, set up the family office as a perpetual investment vehicle in 2006 to generate profits to support philanthropy. He has donated most of his wealth to humanitarian causes in India.

Kurien, who has previously worked with Wipro for more than 16 years building operational parts, is looking for investment sites in the US with the latest technology that can be brought to India. PremjiInvest’s 120-member team, based in Menlo Park, California and Bengaluru, India, oversees the investments.

Asu returns about 5% of its capital to the Premji Charitable Foundation every year, Kurien said, declining to provide further details.

According to Kurien, PremjiInvest’s assets are allocated to private investments, publicly listed stocks and investments in other funds. The 18-year-old firm’s assets under management have quadrupled in the past eight years.

“We are a patient capital with no exit time frame,” he said.