Update
UPDATE - 16:20 10 March 2009
We fired over a few additional questions to the head of this initiative, Jeff Herbst. Here are his answers.
Has NVIDIA stated a total size of the fund?
GPU Ventures shouldn't be considered a venture capital fund per se since the program doesn't have a fixed size or amount of money associated with it at the moment. The number of investments and/or partnerships we enter into and the amount invested will depend on the number and quality of early stage companies we find as part of the program.
How much influence will NVIDIA have in those companies it helps?
We're taking a very free market attitude to the companies we work with - for example, we don't insist they use exclusively NVIDIA hardware or tools. Our relationship with companies within the initiative will be managed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the nature of their business and what support they need from us.
Is this primarily directed at software companies?
We generally look for early stage companies building applications that leverage the GPU for either visual or GPU computing applications such as 3D web and Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), image and video processing, scientific discovery, financial modelling and more. However, we're open-minded about the kind of companies which interest us - this initiative is all about fostering and encouraging innovation.
