Salesforce Ventures expands into robotics and physical AI
Salesforce Ventures has broadened its investment mandate to include physical AI and robotics, backing firms like Figure AI and Zipline. The strategy aims to leverage Salesforce's enterprise base to provide portfolio companies with access to new markets.
Salesforce Ventures has broadened its investment mandate beyond software to include physical AI and robotics. The firm has invested in Figure AI, Humanoids, Physical Intelligence, Dyna Robotics, Skilled, and Zipline for drone delivery. In Japan, it invested in logistics robotics company Mugen. The venture arm also maintains significant positions in AI infrastructure and model developers, including Anthropic, Mistral, Cohere, Eleven Labs, and Runway. John Samorjai notes that the firm is seeing early signs of scaling laws in robotics and vertical go-to-market strategies driving revenue growth. The investment strategy aims to stay close to emerging technologies that may become future acquisition targets or strategic partners, leveraging Salesforce's enterprise customer base to provide portfolio companies with access to new markets. Samorjai described the move into physical AI as a new and exciting area for the firm.