Cisco Bets on Spatial AI With Investment in World Labs Technologies

Cisco Investments has officially announced a strategic investment in World Labs Technologies, Inc., a spatial intelligence AI startup founded by computer vision pioneer Dr. Fei-Fei Li.

The deal underscores Cisco’s ambition to position itself as a critical infrastructure provider for the AI era.

Key highlights of the announcement

• Date & Location: November 20, 2025, San Jose, California
• Investor: Cisco Investments, the venture capital arm of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO).
• Startup: World Labs Technologies, Inc., founded by Dr. Fei-Fei Li, renowned for her groundbreaking work in computer vision.
• Focus area: Spatial intelligence and Large World Models (LWMs) — advanced AI systems that allow machines to perceive, understand, and interact with the physical world in 3D.
• Strategic importance: Cisco sees spatial intelligence as transformative for industries such as robotics, gaming, smart factories, and beyond.

What World Labs is building

• Large World Models (LWMs): Foundational AI models designed to bridge the gap between virtual and real-world environments, enabling AI to generate, reason within, and interact with 3D worlds.
• Marble model: World Labs recently unveiled Marble, its first commercial world model, capable of generating 3D environments from text, video, and layout prompts; considered ahead of competing models like Google’s Genie and Decart.
• Vision: Push AI beyond language-based systems into spatially intelligent systems that can perceive and act in the physical world.

Why Cisco’s investment matters

• Infrastructure role: Cisco positions itself as the backbone for AI innovation, providing networking, cloud, and security infrastructure to support spatial intelligence applications.
• Largest strategic backing: Cisco’s investment is reportedly the largest strategic support World Labs has received so far, signaling strong confidence in the company’s trajectory.
• Industry impact: Spatial intelligence could reshape multiple sectors:
  • Robotics: Smarter navigation and interaction in real-world environments.
  • Gaming & AR/VR: Immersive, dynamic 3D experiences.
  • Smart factories: AI systems with spatial awareness for automation and safety.

Risks & considerations

• Undisclosed investment size: Cisco did not reveal the financial details, leaving uncertainty about the scale of commitment.
• Early-stage technology: LWMs and spatial intelligence are still emerging, meaning commercial adoption timelines could be long.
• Competitive landscape: Google, Meta, and other tech giants are also racing to develop spatial AI models, which could intensify competition.

In short: Cisco’s investment in World Labs is a bet on the next frontier of AI — spatial intelligence. By backing Dr. Fei-Fei Li’s startup, Cisco is aligning itself with the development of Large World Models that could redefine how machines interact with the physical world.
Would you like me to break down how LWMs differ from traditional large language models (LLMs) so you can see why Cisco views this as such a transformative leap?

Cisco Launches $1 Bn Global AI Investment Fund To Bolster Startup Ecosystem

• Cisco is launching a $1B global investment fund to expand and develop secure, reliable and trustworthy AI solutions. 
• Cisco is making strategic investments with world-class start-ups across software and infrastructure that build upon Cisco’s strategy to connect and protect the AI era
• Cohere, Mistral AI and Scale AI among the initial GenAI startups joining the Cisco Investments portfolio to help build a broader AI ecosystem

Cisco Investments, the global corporate venture investment arm of Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), has announced the launch of a $1 Billion AI investment fund to bolster the startup ecosystem and expand the development of secure and reliable AI solutions. As part of the new AI fund, Cisco is making strategic investments in Cohere, Mistral AI and Scale AI among others to advance customers’ AI readiness and complement Cisco’s AI innovation strategy. Cisco has already committed nearly $200M of the $1B investment fund to date.

AI is reshaping every industry and the world at an unprecedented pace, putting greater emphasis on how businesses globally interact and rely on technology. Recent research from IDC (2023) indicates that the global AI market is expected to double in size to over $500 billion in the next three years. Enterprises, including Cisco, have an opportunity to leverage Gen AI to significantly enhance their products and services and better serve their customers and end users.

"For more than 30 years, Cisco Investments has invested and partnered with hundreds of companies to drive innovation both within Cisco's core markets and in new strategic areas. Our recent investments in generative AI companies align perfectly with this long-standing strategy," said Mark Patterson, Chief Strategy Officer, Cisco. "At Cisco, we believe we are well positioned to be the best strategic partner for our customers in the AI era as they look to build, secure, and power AI. In addition to building essential technology to connect, secure and advance AI, Cisco is committed to investing in the broader AI ecosystem to more effectively meet our customers' needs."

Over the past several years, Cisco has made over 20 AI-focused acquisitions and investments, furthering GenAI and Machine Learning capabilities and integration of AI across the Cisco portfolio. These strategic investments and partnerships with world-class AI platforms across software and infrastructure build upon Cisco’s holistic strategy to connect and protect the AI era. In addition to these investments, Cisco will also be working with AI companies on product collaborations that allow Cisco to co-innovate, while also being an agnostic provider and platform player in AI, offering options and coverage for Cisco’s global customer base.

The committed investments in the new AI fund include:

• Cohere: Headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, Cohere provides security-focused frontier large language models (LLMs) and industry-leading Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) capabilities tailored to meet the needs of enterprises.
• Mistral AI: Mistral AI is a global company headquartered in Paris specializing in generative artificial intelligence. The company develops new models of generative artificial intelligence for businesses, combining scientific excellence, an open approach and a responsible vision of technology.
• Scale AI: Based in the U.S., Scale AI provides a data-centric, end-to-end platform providing training and validation for AI applications. Cisco recently participated in Scale AI’s Series F funding as the round’s largest strategic investor.

“The establishment of our $1 billion AI investment fund is a testament to our commitment to the transformative power of artificial intelligence and its potential to redefine industries globally,” said Derek Idemoto, SVP, Corporate Development and Cisco Investments. “This fund represents our unwavering commitment to AI and innovation, and to the entrepreneurs and visionaries who are defining the next wave of technology.”

Cisco has a rich history of delivering innovation through R&D, Investments, M&A, and strategic partnerships—using a multi-pronged build, buy, partner, invest and co-develop strategy. Today’s announcement builds on the momentum of Cisco’s investments and product innovations in AI, while reinforcing that Cisco is well-positioned to help enterprises harness the power of secure, reliable and trustworthy AI on a global scale.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that securely connects everything to make anything possible. Our purpose is to power an inclusive future for all by helping our customers reimagine their applications, power hybrid work, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals.

Jungle Ventures' third VC Fund gets $175 Mn from Temasek, IFC, Cisco and Others

Singapore based Venture Capital (VC) firm, Jungle Ventures, that invests in and helps build tech category leaders from Asia, has received commitments of around $175 million for its third VC fund, said a report by Livemint.

According to the report, about 90% of the $175 million of third VC fund, which may increase to $220 million, came from institutional investors in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, which include International Finance Corporation (IFC) of World Bank group, DEG - Deutsche Investitions, Germany, Cisco Investments, and Temasek Holdings among others.

Jungle Ventures, which has recently invested in Singapore's TookiTaki, has raised a total of $275 Mn across two VC funds. The third, Jungle Ventures III, was announced in December last year.

Founded in 2012, by Anurag Srivastava (IIM-Calcutta) and Amit Anand (IIT-Kanpur), Jungle Ventures invests in technology and e-commerce start-ups in India and south-east Asia. The firm later on-boarrrded Jayesh Parekh, the co-founder of Sony Entertainment Television, and David Gowdey, the former operating partner at private equity firm TPG Growth. In July last year, Grace Xia, Tencent’s former senior director of strategy & development, joined Jungle Ventures as a principal.

From its third fund, Jungle Ventures has already made 5 new investments where it led Series A & Series B rounds, said the report. Each year, the firm invests in around 10-15 tech startups and software companies, specifically across Series A and B rounds.

In India, some of the recent investments of Jungle ventures include Livspace, Paysense, Moglix and Klinify among others. The funds’ last 8 investments globally in Southeast Asia have collectively reached over $500 Mn.

Cisco Investments Joins Helpshift's $23M Series B Round of Funding

Helpshift, the company revolutionizing the customer support industry through enterprise-level, in-app customer experiences, has announced that Cisco Investments has recently joined their Series B funding round, which follows previous investors such as Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. As one of Cisco Investments’ portfolio companies, Helpshift and Cisco will also explore opportunities to integrate Helpshift’s in-app customer support solutions with Cisco’s leading contact center solutions.

As the world rapidly moves to adopt in-app support for business to consumer communication, Helpshift’s Series B round continues to enable the company to take autonomous customer support to the next level. Additionally, as mobile replaces the web as the primary channel through which customers engage, the $350 Billion contact center industry is expected to take advantage of this new channel.

“Apps have become the primary way in which consumers and employees in the enterprise are accessing products and services,” said Abinash Tripathy, CEO and Co-Founder of Helpshift. “Just like customer service moved away from phone (voice) to email in the era of the Web, we are now seeing a transition where customer service is moving inside apps to eliminate all the friction in the process of supporting users.  With the additional funding from Cisco Investments, we are looking to help the entire contact center industry transition from being reactive to proactive while driving higher customer satisfaction and lowering cost.”

In the smartphone era, customers are using mobile apps to interact with products and services. By bringing customer service in-app, Helpshift has eliminated the frustration of customers having to leave the app to get support. The company provides a seamless messaging experience to enable customers to talk to companies like they would talk to their friends.

“We continue to invest in strategic solutions to help propel technology developments that will solve challenges for our customers, partners, and beyond,” said Rob Salvagno, head of Cisco Investments and vice president of Cisco Corporate Development. “Through our investment, we look forward to supporting Helpshift to enable companies to provide best in-class mobile customer care through their data-centric messaging platform.”

CloudCherry Receives $6M in Series A Funding from Vertex Ventures, Cisco Investments & IDG Ventures India

Bangalore & Singapore headquartered CloudCherry, a SaaS-based Customer Experience Management platform, announced yesterday that it has raised their Series A Funding of $6M from Vertex Ventures, Cisco Investments and IDG Ventures India. This capital infusion will be used for CloudCherry’s global expansion, with a strong focus on the US, South East Asia and the Middle East. CloudCherry’s CEM platform is enjoying tremendous success in Asia already, with many leading brands using the platform to understand Customer Experience today. The product is also seeing exciting early wins in the North American markets and is set to welcome many more soon.

CloudCherry was founded in 2013 by Vinod Muthukrishnan, Vijay R Lakshmanan, Prem K Viswanath and Nagendra CL, with the support of angels Prof. Sriram Subramanian (late), Dr. Bala V Balachandran and Hariharan B. CloudCherry provides an industry-leading Omni-channel, SAAS based Customer Experience Management (CEM) platform that helps brands track, measure and improve Customer Experience and Delight. Currently, CloudCherry works with brands in various sectors like BFSI, Retail, e-Commerce, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Hospitality. Some of the company’s clients include prominent brands like World of Titan, HDFC Bank, Central, Voonik, Caratlane and several others.

The CloudCherry brand is owned by Customer Analytics Technologies Inc., based in Pleasanton, CA, with offices in Singapore, Bengaluru & Chennai.

Vinod Muthukrishnan, Co-founder & CEO of CloudCherry said, "We’re delighted to receive our Series A funding from globally recognized investors like Vertex Ventures, and a leading corporate investor like Cisco Investments who recognize the massive potential in the space of Customer Experience, and what our product offers. And of course, it’s great to have IDG Ventures India, who have played a tremendous role in getting us to where we are today. With this funding and their support, we are many steps closer to making our presence globally and becoming the name synonymous with Customer Experience!"

Ben Mathias, Managing Director and India Head of Vertex Ventures said, “We believe the next generation of global SaaS companies will be built out of India. CloudCherry is one such company that has been able to leverage India’s deep technology talent to build and sell products in a global market. Vinod, Vijay, Prem and Nagendra have done a tremendous job in building a solution that is driving significant ROI for many customers across the world.”

“When IDG Ventures first met CloudCherry, we knew that the potential they had was tremendous. And in no time, they’ve really made a mark in the market, not just in India but across several countries, with a product that we’ve seen growing leaps & bounds almost every day. In this round, global expansion is the focus, and with CX becoming an everyday topic of discussion in every organization, the timing can’t be any better. Wishing the team an amazing run ahead”, Said TC Meenakshi Sundaram, Founder & Managing Director of IDG Ventures India.

CloudCherry Raises $6M in Series A Funding from Vertex Ventures, Cisco Investments & IDG Ventures India

Customer Analytics Technologies Inc., owner of SaaS-based Customer Experience Management platform CloudCherry announced that it has raised their Series A Funding of $6M from Vertex Ventures, Cisco Investments and IDG Ventures India. This capital infusion will be used for CloudCherry’s global expansion, with a strong focus on the US, South East Asia and the Middle East. CloudCherry’s CEM platform is enjoying tremendous success in Asia already, with many leading brands using the platform to understand Customer Experience today. The product is also seeing exciting early wins in the North American markets and is set to welcome many more soon.

CloudCherry was founded by Vinod Muthukrishnan, Vijay R Lakshmanan, Prem K Viswanath and Nagendra CL, with the support of angels Prof. Sriram Subramanian (late), Dr. Bala V Balachandran and Hariharan B. CloudCherry provides an industry-leading Omni-channel, SAAS based Customer Experience Management (CEM) platform that helps brands track, measure and improve Customer Experience and Delight. Currently, CloudCherry works with brands in various sectors like BFSI, Retail, e-Commerce, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Hospitality. Some of the company’s clients include prominent brands like World of Titan, HDFC Bank, Central, Voonik, Caratlane and several others.

Vinod Muthukrishnan, Co-founder & CEO of CloudCherry said “We’re delighted to receive our Series A funding from globally recognized investors like Vertex Ventures, and a leading corporate investor like Cisco Investments who recognize the massive potential in the space of Customer Experience, and what our product offers. And of course, it’s great to have IDG Ventures India, who have played a tremendous role in getting us to where we are today. With this funding and their support, we are many steps closer to making our presence globally and becoming the name synonymous with Customer Experience!”

Ben Mathias, Managing Director and India Head of Vertex Ventures said “We believe the next generation of global SaaS companies will be built out of India. CloudCherry is one such company that has been able to leverage India’s deep technology talent to build and sell products in a global market. Vinod, Vijay, Prem and Nagendra have done a tremendous job in building a solution that is driving significant ROI for many customers across the world.”

“When IDG Ventures first met CloudCherry, we knew that the potential they had was tremendous. And in no time, they’ve really made a mark in the market, not just in India but across several countries, with a product that we’ve seen growing leaps & bounds almost every day. In this round, global expansion is the focus, and with CX becoming an everyday topic of discussion in every organization, the timing can’t be any better. Wishing the team an amazing run ahead” Said TC Meenakshi Sundaram, Founder & Managing Director of IDG Ventures India.

Elastifile Raises Series B Round of Funding from Cisco Investments

Elastifile, a cutting-edge, all-flash software defined storage (SDS) solution, has announced a strategic investment by Cisco Investments. The new capital builds on previous Series B investments by other leaders in the data center and storage industries.

Elastifile brings a new level of flexibility to enterprise-grade storage, contradicting the traditionally accepted tradeoff between resiliency and agility. It helps large and mid-size enterprises to scale through the cloud, to hundreds and thousands of nodes, providing millions of Input/output Operations per Second (IOPS). The solution delivers flash performance to any and all enterprise applications while reducing the CAPEX and OPEX of virtualized data centers and simplifies the adoption of hybrid cloud by seamlessly extending file systems across on premise and cloud deployments.

"It used to be that all-flash arrays were essentially block storage applications, not capable of providing enterprise-grade performance at cloud scale," said Amir Aharoni, Elastifile's CEO and co-founder. "We've redefined this by designing an elastically expandable distributed file, all-flash software-centric storage solution. Cisco Investments' funding underscores the value of our approach."

Elastifile brings cloud scale capacity to large and mid-size enterprises. For the first time, a file system is able to massively scale with performance rivaling all flash block systems, elastically expanding to hundreds and thousands of nodes and providing millions of IOPS. Elastifile was founded in 2013 by industry veterans and is backed by seven market leaders from the data centers and storage industries along with Battery Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Image Source: ShutterStock

Cisco Investments to give $40 million funds to early-stage Indian Startups

Cisco Investments has announced to offer $40 million of funds to early-stage startups in India under the 'India Innovation' program of Cisco. Cisco Investments is the venture capital arm of Cisco and is an active investor with more than 40 investment professionals with deep market and technology expertise located in major geographies, including US, Canada, China, India, Israel, and Europe.

Cisco has also also announced that its first investment under 'India Innovation' program will be in Covacsis - a Mumbai-based real-time analytics platform software provider catering to manufacturing production floors. The $40 million fund Cisco is offering to Indian firms under the 'India Innovation' theme is part of the $250 million that was announced earlier in the year, which will be allocated over the next two to three years to fund early-stage companies and further foster innovation in the global startup community.

The investment is focused on next horizon themes to accelerate the development of disruptive technology markets, including big data and analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), connected mobility, storage, silicon, the content technology ecosystem, and India innovation, Cisco said.

Apart from offering fundings to early-stage companies, Cisco Investments would also helps them to accelerate their development by connecting them to Cisco expertise and resources such as Cisco IT, Cisco's business leaders and Cisco's network of partners and customers through major industry events, such as the annual Cisco Live.

"We are looking to invest in companies that make products for India which can also be taken to the rest of the world. Additionally, we are looking for start-ups that offer industry-specific solutions in education, healthcare, financial services, etc., and cloud-enabled enterprise apps/platforms," said Joydeep Bose, Managing Director, Corporate Development, Cisco Asia Pacific & Japan.

Cisco currently have an active portfolio of $2B with over 80 direct investments around the world. So far Cisco has made investments three growth-stage companies in India such as Netmagic, Apalya and social innovation funds like Aavishkaar.