One of the world’s most prominent technology investors is considering taking a stake in a British artificial intelligence (AI) start-up which builds automated digital workers.

Sky News understands that Andreessen Horowitz – commonly known as A16Z – is targeting an investment in 11xAI, which launched last year.

A16Z backed companies including Airbnb and Facebook when they were in their infancy and has become arguably the best-known investor in early-stage companies globally.

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Earlier this year, it raised more than $7bn to invest in tech start-ups, with a particular focus on AI-enabled businesses.

The fund was enormous by the standards of the venture capital industry, underlining A16Z’s clout at attracting money from pension and endowment funds, as well as other investors.

11xAI launched with an automated sales representative it called ‘Alice’, and said it would unveil ‘James’ and ‘Bob’ – focused on talent acquisition and human resources – in due course.

It raised a $2m seed funding round last autumn that was led by Project A Ventures.

The company also reportedly raised money from the scout funds of Accel and Sequoia, among others.

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It was unclear on Thursday whether 11xAI was engaged in a broader funding round than the discussions with A16Z.

A16Z did not respond to a request for comment, while 11xAI could not be reached for comment.

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