A new corporate venture capital firm has burst onto the scene loaded with a ton of cash to fling at eager startups engaged in the development of a range of exciting new technologies.

Called HP Tech Ventures, the new entity is the corporate venture arm of HP Inc., which came into life last year when it officialy split from what is now Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE).

HP hasn’t said how much its new fund is worth, but a description on the fund’s AngelList page says that it’ll be looking to fund startups involved with 3D printing and other 3D technologies, virtual reality, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence (AI), hyper-mobility, immersive computing and robotics, among other cool stuff.

Creating HP Tech Ventures was a “formality” for the company, said HP’s chief technology officer Shane Wall in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Wall said that HP has already made investments in a number of startups since it split from HPE last November. The new investment group compliments HP Labs, which is HP’s own research division, Wall added.

“The next technology revolution is shifting towards strategic markets that speak to HP’s strengths,” Wall said in a statement. “With our global brand and broad reach into consumer and commercial markets worldwide, HP can help startups bring product to market, build their business and scale in the global marketplace as they grow.”

HP decision to set up its own corporate venture fund follows a trend established by many other U.S. technology firms. The idea is to lend their support to the startup ecosystem in order to help fast track innovations that they may one day wish to incorporate into their own products and services. Startups benefit too, and not only from the cash that companies like HP provide, but also from the expertise they can offer. And then there’s the potential, mutually-beneficial deals and partnerships that could arise further down the line

HP’s ‘sister’ company HPE has its own venture capital division, called Hewlett Packard Ventures, which invests in enterprise startups focused on areas like data centers, cloud computing and security. Familiar names like Google, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Inc. and Intel also have their own, long-established venture capital arms.

HP Tech Ventures will be interesting to watch though, because the company mostly focuses on hardware (PCs and printers), as opposed to software and services. The startups it invests in will provide a good signal of the direction in which HP Inc. sees itself going as it strives to go it alone.

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