Seligman Ventures has doubled its deployable capital from $500 million to $1 billion less than a year after launching, giving the venture platform additional capacity to invest across AI infrastructure, modern data center hardware, and cybersecurity.
The Menlo Park-based venture arm of Seligman Investments launched in February 2026 with $500 million of deployable capital and originally expected to make six to eight investments during its first 12 months.
Instead, Seligman Ventures has already invested in more than 14 companies across its core focus areas, reflecting what the firm described as a faster-than-expected pace of innovation and a broader range of investment opportunities.
The platform is led by Managing Partners Umesh Padval and Ashish Kakran, along with CFO and Operating Partner Eddie Ackerman.
Increasing its available capital to $1 billion gives the firm greater flexibility to make larger investments, increase the number of companies in its portfolio, and continue supporting existing investments through multiple stages of growth.
Seligman Ventures is particularly focused on companies addressing infrastructure challenges created by the expansion of artificial intelligence.
Those areas include compute, networking, connectivity, power infrastructure, thermal management, cybersecurity, and AI software infrastructure.
The firm said the current AI investment cycle differs from earlier technology cycles because infrastructure bottlenecks continue shifting as systems become larger and more complex.
For example, improvements in computing capacity can create additional requirements around power availability, data movement, networking bandwidth, and thermal management. Seligman Ventures sees those constraints as creating investment opportunities for startups developing new technologies across the infrastructure stack.
Its portfolio includes SambaNova, Lumilens, Eliyan, Upscale, and Velaura AI.
Those companies are working across areas including AI inference, optical connectivity, high-speed interconnects, ultra-low-power AI computing, and Physical AI.
Other portfolio companies include Cognichip, EPIC Microsystems, and Exaforce.
Seligman Ventures has also secured six board seats and three board observer positions across its portfolio, giving the investment team direct involvement with several of the businesses it backs.
The firm is also increasing its focus on cybersecurity as companies move AI applications from testing environments into production.
Seligman Ventures sees opportunities in technologies designed to secure AI agents and provide controls around agentic workflows as enterprises deploy autonomous and semi-autonomous AI systems at larger scale.
AI is also being applied directly to cybersecurity products, where the technology can potentially improve the speed and efficiency of security platforms while producing higher-quality threat alerts.
Physical AI represents another emerging investment area for the firm.
Robotics, autonomous machines, and other intelligent physical systems require computing infrastructure that can operate within different power, latency, and thermal limitations than conventional data center environments.
Seligman Ventures is also evaluating opportunities involving AI model laboratories and world models designed to support Physical AI systems.
The firm expects advances in AI models and the infrastructure required to operate those models to become increasingly interconnected as robotics and autonomous systems mature.
Seligman Ventures invests in companies ranging from early-stage startups through the pre-IPO stage.
Its approach is part of Seligman Investments’ broader technology investment platform, which spans both private and public markets.
Seligman Investments is part of Columbia Threadneedle Investments’ alternatives business and manages approximately $48 billion across public and private technology and healthcare investments, including mutual funds, hedge funds, and separately managed accounts.
The structure allows Seligman to follow technology companies across multiple stages of development, from venture-backed startups through the public markets.
Seligman Chief Investment Officer Paul Wick said the expansion of the venture platform builds on the firm’s long-standing technology investment capabilities and provides founders with access to an investor that follows technology businesses across both private and public markets.
Columbia Threadneedle Investments, the broader global asset management organization, manages and advises approximately $759 billion in assets across equities, fixed income, asset allocation strategies, and alternatives.
The firm has around 2,200 employees, including roughly 550 investment professionals, across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Seligman Ventures’ decision to double its deployable capital less than a year after launch reflects the pace at which it has already invested its initial allocation and the firm’s expectation that additional opportunities will emerge as AI infrastructure requirements continue to evolve.
The new capital gives the platform room to invest in additional startups while reserving capital for follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies as they scale.
KEY QUOTES:
“The opportunities we are seeing across compute, networking, connectivity, power, thermal management, cybersecurity and AI software infrastructure have exceeded our expectations. Our thesis-driven approach, operating experience, technical knowledge, CXO network and ability to make investment decisions quickly have allowed us to partner with some of the most ambitious founders and companies.”
Umesh Padval, Managing Partner At Seligman Ventures
“Increasing our deployable capital to $1 billion gives us the opportunity to invest in category-defining startups as well as support our current portfolio companies.”
Umesh Padval, Managing Partner At Seligman Ventures
“Increasing the capital available to Seligman Ventures reflects our confidence in both the opportunity ahead and the team we have assembled, as well as the venture portfolio we have constructed.”
Paul Wick, Chief Investment Officer Of Seligman Investments
