Norwest 募集 40 亿美元新基金，加码 AI 投资
Norwest pushes deeper into AI with new $4B fund
- 1Norwest 完成募集 40 亿美元的第十八期基金，为这家 65 年历史投资机构迄今规模最大的一期
- 2新基金将投向美国、印度和以色列等地，重点捕捉消费、医疗与科技行业的 AI 创业公司
- 3Norwest 称将继续扩展实体 AI、语音 AI、智能体网络安全与航空航天方向的投资
- 4自 2024 年关闭的 30 亿美元第十七期基金以来，该机构已投出超过 87 笔投资
Norwest 以超过此前各期的 40 亿美元基金加注 AI，主流多阶段机构资本正把 AI 当作横跨行业的基础投资主题，而非单一赛道。
- 影响：实体 AI、语音 AI、智能体安全等方向的创业公司多了一个 40 亿美元量级的资金来源；其公开的投向清单可作为观察机构对 AI 落地领域判断的参照；资金覆盖美国、印度和以色列三地。
- 参考：可考虑把其点名的 AI 原生应用、领域专用模型、网络安全等方向作为融资热点的参照；处于这些赛道的团队值得把 Norwest 列入候选投资人名单，先核对其阶段偏好与现有投资组合的重叠。
- 依据：募资规模、期数、87 笔投资等数字均为 Norwest 官方口径及高级管理合伙人 Jeff Crowe 接受 TechCrunch 采访所述，暂无独立验证。
Norwest, a firm backed solely by Wells Fargo, has raised a $4 billion fund as it sets out to invest more in AI. This is the eighteenth fund for the 65-year-old multi-stage investment firm, and its largest to date.
The fund will be invested across various sectors and multiple counties, notably the United States, India, and Israel. But the big story here is AI, and Norwest’s plans to expand its investment in this area.
Norwest said Thursday it aims to capitalize on AI startups developing products and services across core industries such as consumer, healthcare and technology. The investment firm, which has backed Plaid, Spotify, Uber and Vuori, said it will continue to expand its investments in physical AI, voice AI, agentic cybersecurity, and aerospace.
If that sounds like a broad approach, it is intended to be, Jeff Crowe, a senior managing partner at Norwest, told TechCrunch.
“We’re taking a broad approach to AI because its impact is broad,” CroweAI is not limited by industry, geography or application. Just as digital transformation did, AI transformation has the potential to touch most layers of enterprise, consumer and healthcare solutions: networking, enterprise IT and applications. Adapting to an agentic environment means applying AI broadly across products and services that solve problems.”
Crowe added that the firm is particularly excited about early-stage companies building AI-native application and infrastructure, physical AI, domain-specific models, and cybersecurity solutions.
Some of the firm’s recent investments reflect this strategy. For instance, the firm invested in Coval, which builds tools to test and evaluate AI agents, and Generalist AI, a startup that has developed AI foundations models for robots.
Since the launch of its 17th fund, a $3 billion raise that closed in 2024, the firm has made more than 87 investments.
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Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
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来源：TechCrunch · AI · techcrunch.com