Cisco (CSCO) said on Thursday that its venture capital arm, Cisco Investments, will invest an undisclosed amount in spatial computing firm World Labs.
Founded by world renowned computer scientist Dr. Fei-Fei Li, World Labs is driving the next paradigm shift in artificial intelligence, Cisco said in a statement.
The startup, which raised $230M in funding in September 2024, allows computers to understand and interact with 3-D environments and could transform areas such as gaming and robots, Cisco added. The Chuck Robbins-led Cisco said its investment is World Lab’s largest strategic investment to date.
“World Labs is driven by a single passion: advancing AI to augment human potential and deliver real-world impact,” said Fei-Fei Li, Co-founder and CEO, World Labs. “Cisco’s leadership in secure, scalable infrastructure is a critical enabler for the next generation of AI and the evolution of physical AI. We are thrilled to work with them as we bring our vision to life.”
Dr. Li, who has been referred to as the “godmother of AI,” has extensive experience in the tech industry. She previously served on the board of directors at Twitter (now known as X), as an executive at Google Cloud and various other companies.
“The evolution of AI from linguistic intelligence to spatial intelligence marks the next revolutionary leap, as models move beyond understanding language to reasoning about, generating, and interacting with the physical world. World Labs is pioneering this frontier with Large World Models,” said Martin Casado, General Partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. “We’ve long shared Fei-Fei’s vision for spatial intelligence and see huge potential for changing how AI engages with the world. Cisco’s investment reflects the importance of secure, scalable infrastructure in advancing this new era of AI.”
Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, is one of the backers of World Labs.