May 22, 2025

VC firm Factorial Funds launches second fund with $200m Published: 21-05-2025 13:43:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 220 | Tags: Factorial Funds, a private VC investment firm with holdings across technology, financial services, media and consumer sectors, has launched its second institutional fund with $200 million in committed capital. Hyundai Motor Company in conjunction with Kia Corporation will serve as the fund's anchor investors. The fund will focus on investments across the AI value chain, cloud and data infrastructure, robotics, and rapidly scaling software. Fund II builds on the momentum of Fund I, which backed early and growth stage companies. The firm partnered with emerging AI leaders such as Anthropic, Perplexity, xAI, Mistral, Ayar Labs, SpaceX and The Bot Company. Factorial Funds was founded in 2021 by  Sol Bier , who was part of the early team at Cruise Automation. Sol helped scale the company from a small autonomous vehicle startup to its $1 billion acquisition by General Motors in 2016. Following the acquisition, Cruise maintained operational independence and went on to raise over $3 billion from investors including SoftBank, Honda, and T. Rowe Price. Sol's time at Cruise - through its hypergrowth, breakthrough applications of AI in the physical world, and deep integration with a global automaker - shaped his perspective on building and backing generational companies, particularly in AI. Would you like to be featured on Startup Weekly for a free profile interview? Fill in this questionnaire  here . You can also send your columns / opinions / thought leadership pieces / industry insights, survey and reports to  info@startup-weekly.com . Publications by country. Africa [Interview] Teboho Nthoana, Founder, Nono Capital, South Africa Nono Capital  is a South African impact investment firm providing financial support, operational expertise, and strategic guidance to help companies in various sectors scale and thrive. The firm is known for... read more here [Interview] Enare Abang, Founder, InstaGo Ed Travels, Nigeria InstaGo Ed Travels is a Nigerian-based travel and educational company that focuses on providing tailored services to students and professionals looking to study abroad or pursue international career opportunities... read more here [Interview] Arnavaz Hajizadeh, CEO and Co-founder, Zirr AI Medical Scribe, Boston Arnavaz Hajizadeh  is the CEO and Co-founder of  Zirr AI Medical Scribe , a Boston-based innovative healthcare solution designed to streamline clinical documentation. Arnavaz gives more insight about the company in this... read more here [Interview] Brian Njoroge, CEO, OpenCharge, Kenya OpenCharge is a Kenyan fintech revolutionizing mobility by providing affordable financing for electric vehicles to ride-hail drivers. The CEO,  Brian Njoroge , tells us... read more here [Interview] Roman Burdiuzha, Founder, Gart Solutions, Ukraine Gart Solutions is a Ukranian started IT startup working in the areas of DevOps, Cloud Solutions, and Infrastructure. The company helps customers to achieve the next level of infrastructure maturity, optimize costs... read more here [Interview] Diddo van Zand, Founder, In2Dialog, Netherlands In2Dialog is a Dutch-based startup which develops AI-augmented tools to streamline and improve recruitment drawing from industry experience spanning the fields of recruitment, psychology and data science... read more here [Interview] Douglas Kendyson, CEO, Selar, Nigeria In this interview, we talk to  Douglas Kendyson , CEO of  Selar , an e-Commerce tool that creators and entrepreneurs use to sell their content, products and services globally. Douglas talks about the growing creator economy in... read more here [Interview] Marco Limm, Founder and CEO, cre[ai]tion, Germany Marco Limm  is the Founder and CEO of Frankfurt-based  Cre[ai]tion , an AI-powered tool that allows any type of fashion, automotive, footwear, and jewelry designer to create designs and products through an easy-to-use... read more here [Interview] Fedir Kompaniiets, CEO, Gart Solutions, Ukraine Gart Solutions is a provider of comprehensive DevOps solutions, dedicated to helping businesses streamline their software development processes and achieve operational excellence. The company has worked with... read more here [Interview] Caroline Mutuku, General Manager, Glovo, Kenya Caroline Mutuku  is Kenya's General Manager of multi-category app  Glovo . Caroline joined Glovo in December 2022 from Swvl Kenya where she also served as the General Manager from December 2021. In this interview... read more here [Interview] Renate Swanepoel, COO, INC. Networking, South Africa Renate Swanepoel is an entrepreneur, global networker and inspirational speaker that has helped thousands of people around the world to find their purpose. She has gained significant networking and communication... read more here Most Read.