There is hardly any area of business that the influential Arnault family is not involved in. LVMH is their most famous company, and their vast luxury fashion empire owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, TAG Heuer, and more.
But the Arnault family's influence is not limited to luxury brands: patriarch Bernard Arnault, for example, bought a three-star Paris bistro ahead of the Paris Olympics, whose major sponsor was LVMH, and other acquisitions, such as the world's first department store, Le Bon Marché, were made decades ago.
But some of Arnault's latest interests lie far from retail and luxury: Europe's richest man has been found to have been quietly investing in artificial intelligence amid growing interest in the emerging technology.
CNBC reported that Aglaé Ventures, a tech-focused venture fund owned by the Arnault family, has invested in five AI companies this year, citing data from private wealth management platform Fintrx.
Fintrx said the total funding rounds for these companies was $300 million, but it is unclear how much of that came from Arnault's venture capital firm.
Introducing the startups backed by Arnault
The largest of five funding rounds in 2024 was an investment in H, a French startup that aims to improve worker productivity. Co-founded by a Stanford University researcher and four Google DeepMind alumni, the company raised $220 million in seed funding in May, of which Aglae was part. Other prominent business figures, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, have also backed H.
Canadian talent management startup Borderless AI raised $27 million led by Aglae and Susquehanna, while Paris-based AI editing app Photoroom raised $43 million in funding. Enterprise AI startup Ramini and digital marketing platform Proxima are also among the companies that have received funding from Arnault's venture fund.
Agache and Aglae did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment.
Indeed, Aglaé has been investing in tech companies since long before the recent generative AI boom. For example, it participated in funding rounds in 2017 and 2019, according to Fintrx. The French venture capital firm has made more than 150 investments in the past seven years. French gadget reseller Back Market is one of the unicorns backed by Aglaé.
While the Arnault family is known for its influence in the luxury industry, their family office has been involved in technology investing for over 20 years and was an early investor in Netflix, Spotify, and Slack.
The LVMH CEO's interest in AI isn't limited to startups: The luxury conglomerate has been integrating AI into its business through a partnership with Google Cloud, and the company has been active on the topic through its annual LVMH Data AI Summit, which awards innovative technology companies helping to transform the fashion industry.
Like others, the Arnaults just want to get in on the action as AI's potential and popularity continues to grow.
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