By Jim Edwards
Publication Date: 2025-11-27 08:01:00
Emily Fontaine is the global head of venture capital at IBM. The company’s venture fund, IBM Ventures, is a $500 million fund currently focused mostly on AI and quantum computing. So far it has made 23 investments in companies including Hugging Face (tools for machine learning), Not Diamond (optimizes the choice of AI model on a task-by-task basis), Unstructured (which structures data for LLMs), QEDMA (error correction in quantum computing), and Reality Defender (deepfake detection software).
Fontaine talked to Fortune recently about what she is looking for when she invests.
Primarily, IBM is focused on business-to-business companies, especially if they fit into IBM’s ecosystem of clients and customers, she said.
“We’re looking for investments that are ready to scale, ready to partner, deploying responsible AI, [using] what we call the ‘capital-plus’ model,” Fontaine said. The “plus” aspect is that unlike a standalone VC fund, IBM has the ability…
