由MuleSoft创始人罗斯·梅森（Ross Mason）领导的伦敦公司DIG Ventures已完成其第三支基金的募集，规模达1.2亿美元。该基金将支持约30家欧洲种子前和种子阶段的初创企业，这些企业专注于构建人工智能的软件基础设施。
DIG Ventures, the London-based firm led by MuleSoft founder Ross Mason, has closed its third fund at $120M. Fund III will back around 30 European pre-seed and seed-stage startups that build software infrastructure for AI.
其机构投资人包括Horsley Bridge、Sofina、Granite以及一家未具名的美国大学捐赠基金。Slack、Datadog、Nord Security、Cast AI、Supercell和Dash0的创始人也参与了投资。
Its institutional backers include Horsley Bridge, Sofina, Granite and an unnamed US university endowment. The founders of Slack, Datadog, Nord Security, Cast AI, Supercell and Dash0 have also put money in.
该基金瞄准DIG所称的“控制点”，即其他软件所依赖的数据、身份验证、合规性和编排层。DIG计划主导其大部分融资轮次，并且已经开始进行投资。
The fund targets what DIG calls control points, meaning the data, identity, compliance and orchestration layers that other software depends on. DIG plans to lead most of its rounds and has already started investing.
其背后的逻辑是软件经济学的转变。由于人工智能使代码编写变得更便宜、更快速，DIG预计产品将更难形成防御壁垒，而持久的价值将转移到其底层基础设施上。
The thinking behind it is a shift in the economics of software. Because AI makes code cheaper and faster to write, DIG expects products to become harder to defend, with lasting value moving to the infrastructure underneath them.
DIG Ventures创始合伙人罗斯·梅森表示：“这些公司的优势会随着软件开发成本的下降而不断累积。”
“These are the companies whose advantages compound as the cost of building software falls,” said Ross Mason, founding partner at DIG Ventures.
梅森创立了MuleSoft，该公司后来被Salesforce以65亿美元收购。他与梅丽莎·克林格（Melissa Klinger，前MuleSoft英国销售负责人）和里蒂斯·维特考斯卡斯（Rytis Vitkauskas，YPlan创始人，曾任Lightspeed Venture Partners合伙人）共同运营DIG。
Mason founded MuleSoft, which Salesforce bought for $6.5bn. He runs DIG with Melissa Klinger, formerly MuleSoft’s UK sales lead, and Rytis Vitkauskas, who founded YPlan and was a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.
DIG上一支基金是其首支来自机构投资者的基金，曾支持可观测性初创公司Dash0。今年3月，Dash0完成1.1亿美元B轮融资，估值达到10亿美元。
The previous fund, DIG’s first from institutional investors, backed observability startup Dash0. Dash0 reached a $1bn valuation with a $110m Series B in March.
同一支基金还投资了Taktile，该公司为银行和保险公司开发人工智能工具。今年6月，Taktile完成了由高盛另类投资（Goldman Sachs Alternatives）领投的1.1亿美元C轮融资。
The same fund also backed Taktile, which builds AI tools for banks and insurers. In June, Taktile raised a $110m Series C led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
根据DIG的说法，基于Carta数据，第二支基金在全球同年龄和规模的基金中排名前10%。该公司还表示，第二支基金投资的公司在投资后两年内，有80%获得了更多的机构资金。
According to DIG, Fund II ranks in the top 10% of funds worldwide of its age and size, based on Carta data. The firm also says 80% of Fund II companies raised more institutional money within two years of its investment.
此外，DIG称，第二支基金中已推出产品的公司，超过90%在12个月内进入了美国市场。该公司表示，这正是它希望为欧洲创始人弥补的差距。
In addition, more than 90% of the Fund II companies that had launched a product entered the US market within 12 months, DIG says. That is the gap the firm says it wants to close for European founders.
“这个大陆并不缺乏技术人才。但真正的挑战在于如何将这些技术优势转化为全球性的市场影响力，”梅森说道。
“The continent is not short of technical talent. But the challenge is turning technical advantage into global distribution,” Mason said.