Microsoft's venture capital division continues to sell its holdings, with a large scale and high discounts.

According to several anonymous sources cited by the media, Microsoft's corporate venture capital fund, M12, has been selling a portion of its $1 billion investment portfolio on the secondary market.

Compared to the latest valuation, M12 is selling its holdings at a discount of 30% to 70%. Although the discount is significant, it does not necessarily mean that Microsoft has incurred losses, as Microsoft's cost price may be lower.

It is currently unclear how much of the investment portfolio M12 has already sold or plans to sell, but three insiders have revealed that the scale of the sales is substantial.

Previously, a Microsoft spokesperson stated that M12 had sold less than 10% of its holdings in the fiscal year ending on June 30. The fund's investment portfolio includes over 100 companies in total.

Microsoft is the sole limited partner of M12. Microsoft Ventures is a representative of the new generation of corporate venture capital (CVC). It originated from Microsoft Ventures in 2013, launched in 2016, and was officially renamed M12 in 2018. Microsoft has stated that the name M12 represents Microsoft (M) and the number of letters in the word "entrepreneur" (12), reflecting its ongoing commitment to innovators and entrepreneurs.

M12's early investments were primarily focused in North America, but they are now global. M12's priority investment areas include business applications, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, data and artificial intelligence, as well as healthcare. Most of their investments are made in the early stages, typically between Series A and Series D, with the highest frequency of involvement being in Series A to C.

M12 is more inclined to invest in B2B companies that can leverage Microsoft's technical resources for commercialization, integrating their business into Microsoft's product development and sales through complementarity or synergy. However, the ability to integrate with Microsoft's technology is not a prerequisite for M12 investments. It will adjust its direction based on Microsoft's strategic development, helping Microsoft gain an advantage in cross-domain competition with its rivals.

Since the current CEO Satya Nadella took office, Microsoft has been making large-scale investments in the field of artificial intelligence, with most of the transactions being conducted through M12, and a small portion being directly invested by Microsoft. M12 has increased its lead investment frequency. This year, Microsoft's collaboration with OpenAI has caused a sensation worldwide, leading the global AI market frenzy. Microsoft's every move has attracted significant market attention.

M12 has its exit mechanism. So far, at least 20 of M12's investments have exited through IPOs or acquisitions.