Artificial intelligence was not given money – Newspaper Kommersant No. 46 (7491) of 03/20/2023
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In 2022, global investment in artificial intelligence (AI) startups has fallen by 34% to $45.8 billion, according to researchers from CB Insights. The fall in such investments came after reaching record levels in 2021 and against the backdrop of a comparable decline in global venture capital funding. According to experts, the reduction in 2022 will not become a trend – now the AI market needs some “cooling”. With the focus on this technology, recovery and increased funding will not be long in coming.
Global investments in artificial intelligence technologies in 2022 amounted to $45.8 billion, analysts at the American research company CB Insights calculated. This is higher than in 2018-2020, but significantly lower (by 34%) than the record value of 2021 of $69.7 billion. Last year, 2956 transactions took place in the global AI field, 10% less than in 2021.
Note that the results of investments in AI almost exactly repeat the financial results of the global venture business in 2022 as a whole. According to the same CB Insights, presented in January, global investments in venture capital in 2022 decreased by 35% compared to again a record year in 2021, to a level of $415.1 billion.
As follows from the survey, in 2022, 34 new “unicorns” in the field of AI appeared in the world, their total number grew to 166 companies. Recall that a “unicorn” is usually called a startup that has reached a valuation of $1 billion in no more than ten years since its founding, has not entered the stock exchange and remains in the ownership of its creators by at least three-quarters. Of the 166 such companies, 105 are located in the US, 41 in Asia, and only 12 in Europe. However, last year saw 616 deals with European AI start-ups (up 6%), setting a record for the region. At the same time, project financing decreased by 9%, to $6.2 billion. 48% of investments in European projects fell on the UK.
As for the Russian market of AI startups, according to information from the almanac “Artificial Intelligence”, at the end of 2021, 77 such transactions were invested in the Russian Federation for? $ 226 million (against 37 transactions in? 2020 for? $ 84 million). Data for 2022 is not yet available separately for the AI sector, but according to the Venture Guide project, investment in general in Russian IT companies fell sharply last year. In total, 128 deals were concluded against 291 in 2021, and the amount of investments in startups fell by 57%, to $ 1.1 billion. Obvious reasons: the conflict in Ukraine, sanctions and the relocation of many projects abroad (see “Kommersant” dated January 12 ).
The global decline in investment in AI startups is taking place against the backdrop of a general “cooling” of the market after its explosive growth in the “covid” years and a long period of “cheap” money in the world’s main venture capital market — the United States, says an expert from the Russian Cluster Observatory Center of the ISSEK HSE Kirill Tyurchev. According to him, with the tightening of the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve, many technology companies began to experience financial difficulties. Those who lent to these companies also began to have problems – and one of the leaders here was the bankrupt Silicon Valley Bank. “However, we survived the collapse of the dot-com (a company whose business model is entirely based on the Internet.— “b”) and we understand that current events are a period of necessary “cooling off”, after which a new era of growth of technology companies can begin. Given the attention that is now being paid to artificial intelligence technologies, there is no doubt that this sector will soon recover,” the expert believes.
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