Bernard Arnault continues to demonstrate his determination to position his LVMH group as a major player in the technology field. Through Aglaé Ventures, the Arnault family’s venture capital fund, he is backing five artificial intelligence start-ups, including emerging leaders.
While the LVMH Innovation Award ceremony at Vivatech crowned FancyTech last May, testifying to the Number One in luxury goods’ undiminished interest in artificial intelligence (including generative intelligence), Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH, is stepping up his investment in artificial intelligence via his venture capital fund, Aglaé Ventures. Since the beginning of the year, the fund has backed five AI startups, including such notable companies as H and Borderless AI.
These investments, totaling over $300 million, demonstrate Bernard Arnault’s commitment to cutting-edge technologies.
Five AI start-ups
Since the start of 2024, Aglaé Ventures has been part of the funding round of five startups in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Among them is H(formerly Holistic AI), a French startup focusing on the development of general artificial intelligence (AGI).
H raised $220 million in May 2024 (all investors combined), reaching a valuation of $370 million. Founded by former members of Google DeepMind and a Stanford researcher, the company has also attracted investors such as Accel Partners LP and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Lamini, a Palo Alto-based startup specializing in the development of AI applications for enterprises, meanwhile, received a $25 million seed round, while Proxima, a New York-based AI-enabled digital marketing platform, raised $12 million in April 2024. Borderless AI, a Toronto-based human resources management infrastructure, secured $27 million,at launch, with Susquehanna as co-investor. Finally, Photoroom, an artificial intelligence-based image editor in France, raised $43 million in February 2024.
LVMH, seeking to remain at the forefront of innovation in the luxury industry, has also integrated artificial intelligence into the group’s operations through a strategic partnership with Google Cloud, forged at the end of 2023. This commitment was highlighted in October 2023 at the first LVMH Data AI Summit, an annual event where the group explores advances in AI and rewards technology companies that are transforming the fashion industry.
Aglaé Ventures success stories
Before turning its attention to AI, Aglaé Ventures had already looked into the cradle of other promising start-ups.
As early as 1999, the Arnault family was one of the first investors, via this fund, in Netflix, followed by significant stakes in Spotify in 2014 and Airbnb in 2015.
Aglaé Ventures has pursued this strategy, making more than 150 investments over the past seven years, often in promising technology companies. Among these, Meero, a Paris-based company specializing in AI-powered photo creation, has benefited from four rounds of funding between 2017 and 2019.
Among its other nuggets, Back Market, a French online marketplace for refurbished electronics, has become a unicorn valued at $5.7 billion in 2022, while Noom, a digital health platform, and World Music Media, a music creation app, have also enjoyed notable success.
Aglaé Ventures also helped Chrono24, a luxury watch exchange website, raise $108 million in 2021.
Finally, LaCollection, a digital art platform, was also backed by Aglaé in 2023.
While Bernard Arnault is projecting himself into tomorrow’s world, he is not letting go of his luxury empire. LVMH has thus particularly distinguished itself this summer by being the Premium Partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic (and soon Paralympic) Games.
Read also > Vivatech: FancyTech, winner of the LVMH Innovation Award 2024
© Allison Saeng
