No company has capitalized on the AI revolution more dramatically than Nvidia. Since the introduction of ChatGPT more than two years ago, its revenue, Profitability and cash reserves are skyrocketing — and many competing next-generation AI services are already in use. And its stock price rose more than eightfold.
During that time, The world's leading high-performance GPU maker has used its bullish momentum to dramatically increase investments in all types of startups.
The chip giant raised its venture capital activity by participating in 49 rounds of funding for AI companies in 2024, up from 34 in 2023, according to PitchBook data. Nvidia has funded just 38 AI deals, a significant increase in investment compared to the previous four years combined. Note that these investments do not include those made by its official corporate VC fund, NVentures. (PitchBook says NVentures is involved in 24 deals in 2024, compared to 24 in 2024.)
Nvidia mentioned. The aim of its corporate investment is to expand the AI ecosystem by backing startups it considers “game changers and market creators.”
Of course, Nvidia isn't just a big tech corporation for AI startups. But it has been most active in the last two years. Compared to Nvidia's 83 deals over two years (2023 and 2024), Alphabet has entered 73 deals and Microsoft has done 40, PitchBook data shows.
Below is a list of startups that have raised more than $100 million in the past two years, with Nvidia named participant, ranked from highest to lowest.
Billion dollar club
OpenAI: Nvidia first reportedly backed the ChatGPT developer in October. $100 million check It led to a massive $6.6 billion round, valuing the company at $157 billion. The chipmaker's investment is dwarfed by OpenAI's other backer, Thrive, which has invested $1.3 billion, according to the New York Times.
xAI- Nvidia participated in Elon Musk's xAI's $6 billion round. Not all of OpenAI's investors were disclosed in the deal. His request was complied with. Not to back its direct competitors. Nvidia joined xAI's cap chart after investing in ChatGPT maker in October. It took a few months..
Infection: One of Nvidia's first significant AI investments also had unusual results. As of June 2023, Nvidia is one of Inflection's lead investors. 1.3 billion dollars round is a company founded by Mustafa Suleyman, who earlier founded DeepMind. Less than a year later, Microsoft hired the founders of Inflection AI. 620 million dollars paid. For a non-exclusive technology license; The company was left with a significantly reduced workforce and a less certain future.
path Nvidia joined in May. Around $1.05 billion For a UK-based startup; We are developing a self-learning system for autonomous driving. The company is testing its vehicles in the UK and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Safe Intelligence: In September Nvidia is backing a new startup founded by former OpenAI scientist Ilya Sutskever. Hi Around $1 billion The new is appreciated. 10 people AI lab is $5 billion.
AI Scales: In May 2024, Nvidia partnered with Accel and other tech giants Amazon and Meta to invest. 1 billion dollars Described at Scale AI, which provides data labeling services to companies for training AI models. The San Francisco-based company is valued at nearly $14 billion.
A club worth hundreds of millions of dollars
Crusoe: Start building data centers. News is available. Oracle Lease to Microsoft and OpenAI It raised $686 million. According to an SEC filing in late November. The investment was led by Founders Fund, and other investors include Nvidia.
Figure AI February An AI robot startup appears. $675 million Nvidia OpenAI Startup Fund; Series B from Microsoft and others. The company is valued at $2.6 billion.
Mistral AI Nvidia invested in Mistral when the French-based language modeling giant raised $640 million in a Series B round. It is worth 6 billion dollars. In June
Combined: In June, Nvidia invested in Cohere's. Around $500 millionA leading language modeling provider serving businesses. The chipmaker first backed the Toronto-based startup about a year ago.
Confusion: Nvidia first invested in Perplexity in November 2023 and has participated in every subsequent round, including the launch of the AI search engine. 500 million dollars The company was valued at $9 billion in December, according to PitchBook data.
Poolside: In October, AI Coding assistant startup Poolside revealed. 500 million dollars Led by Bain Capital Ventures. Nvidia takes AI startup in $3 billion round
CoreWeave: Nvidia invested in AI cloud computing provider in April 2023 when CoreWeave came up $221 million For funding. Since then, CoreWeave's valuation has jumped from about $2 billion. 19 billion dollarsand the company expressed its views. $35 billion IPO This year, CoreWeave allows its customers to rent Nvidia GPUs by the hour.
AI Division: In September, Nvidia invested. The A Japan-based startup that trains low-cost, next-generation AI models using datasets has grown massively. The Series A round is worth about $214 million. Valued at $1.5 billion.
Imbue- Made an AI research lab. They claim to be developing AI systems that can identify reasons and codes. Around $200 million Nvidia in September 2023; According to investors including Astera Institute and Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt.
Reference: In June An autonomous truck startup has emerged. Series B $200 million Co-led by existing investors Uber and Khosla Ventures. Other investors include Nvidia; It includes Volvo Group Venture Capital and Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Transactions over $100 million
Designation of laboratories: In December, Nvidia invested in the venture. Around $155 million Ayar Labs, a The company is developing optical interconnects to improve AI computing and power efficiency. This is the third time Nvidia has backed a startup.
kore.ai: Emerging from a startup that develops business-focused AI chatbots. 150 million dollars In December 2023, In addition to Nvidia, Investors in the fund include FTV Capital; Includes Vistara Growth and Sweetwater Private Equity.
Weka: In May, Nvidia invested. 140 million dollars Roundup for AI-native data management platform Weka. The Silicon Valley company is valued at $1.6 billion.
Runway: In June 2023, Runway unveiled a startup building AI tools for multimedia content creators. Series C $141 million Nvidia Expansion from investors including Google and Salesforce.
Bright machines By June 2024, Nvidia will a Series C $126 million Bright Machines A smart robotics and AI-driven software startup.
Big Data: The startup, which provides storage solutions for AI and data analytics, has raised a $118 million Series E in December 2023. This is Nvidia's third investment in Vast Data.
Factory: In September 2023, Nvidia invested in networking chips designer Enfabrica's. Series B $125 million. In November, the startup raised another $115 million, but Nvidia did not participate in the round.