A total of 28! Inventory of "American AI Unicorns" with financing of over $100 million this year

AI investment slowing down? Not for venture capital.

Recent data from Crunchbase shows that in just the first half of 2024, over $35.5 billion flowed into AI startups globally. Out of the six rounds of over $1 billion raised in the first half of 2024, five were raised by AI companies, with other AI startups also raising massive amounts exceeding $100 million.

Among them, U.S. startups raised two $1 billion financings in the first half of this year, accounting for nearly two-thirds (64%) of the massive financing.

Here are the AI companies that have raised $100 million or more in 2024 so far:

July

Hebbia, $130 million: Anderson Horowitz led Hebbia's $130 million financing round completed on July 8. The startup uses GAI to search large documents and raised funds from Peter Thiel, Index Ventures, and Google Ventures, reaching a valuation of $700 million.

Skild AI, $300 million: Skild AI announced a $300 million Series A financing on July 9, with a valuation of $1.5 billion. This round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, and Bezos Expeditions, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Menlo Ventures, and General Catalyst. Skild AI is dedicated to developing robotics technology.

June

Bright Machines, $106 million: BlackRock led Bright Machines' $106 million Series C financing completed on June 25. Nvidia, Microsoft, and Eclipse Ventures also participated in this round. The startup produces intelligent robots and AI-driven software, raising a total of over $437 million.

Etched.ai, $120 million: San Francisco-based Etched.ai completed a $120 million Series A financing on June 25. This round was led by Primary Venture Partners and Positive Sum, with participation from Two Sigma Ventures, Peter Thiel, and Kyle Vogt. Etched.ai is developing chips that can run AI models faster and cheaper than GPUs

EvolutionaryScale, $142 million: EvolutionaryScale, headquartered in New York, is developing a bio-artificial intelligence model for therapeutic design. The company completed a $142 million seed round of financing on June 25th. This round of financing was led by Lux Capital, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, angel investors, and former Y Combinator AI lead Daniel Gross.

AKASA, $120 million: AKASA, a medical revenue cycle automation platform, announced on June 18th that it had completed a $120 million financing. Based in San Francisco, this startup has raised a total of $205 million, previously raising funds from Andreessen Horowitz, Costanoa Ventures, and Bond.

AlphaSense, $650 million: AlphaSense, headquartered in New York, announced on June 11th that it had completed a $650 million Series F financing. This round of financing was led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners, with participation from CapitalG, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Goldman Sachs. AlphaSense, a market intelligence platform company founded in 2008, has raised over $1.4 billion in venture capital, with a recent valuation of $4 billion.

May

xAI, $6 billion: Elon Musk's xAI raised a staggering $6 billion Series B financing on May 31st from investors including Sequoia, Valor Equity Partners, and Fidelity. The startup is building an artificial intelligence platform for "accelerating human scientific discovery," with an equally astonishing valuation of $24 billion.

Scale AI, $1 billion: Scale AI, a startup that provides data labeling services to train AI models, raised $1 billion in May. This Series F financing was led by Accel, with participation from Tiger Global, Spark Capital, and Amazon. Based in San Francisco, Scale AI has raised over $1.6 billion, with a current valuation close to $14 billion.

Suno, $125 million: AI music creation platform Suno completed a $125 million Series B financing on May 21st. This financing round valued the Massachusetts-based startup at $500 million Founder Collective, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Matrix participated in this round of financing, with former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and former Y Combinator AI head Daniel Gross also involved.

Weka, $140 million: Silicon Valley-based Weka has created an AI-native data platform and completed a $140 million Series E financing on May 13th. This round of financing was led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures, Nvidia, Hitachi Ventures, and others. The startup is valued at $1.6 billion.

CoreWeave, $1.1 billion: New Jersey-based GPU infrastructure provider CoreWeave completed an $1.1 billion Series C financing on May 1st. This round of financing was led by Coatue, with participation from Fidelity, Altimeter Capital, Magnetar Capital, and others. CoreWeave was founded in 2017 and is valued at $19 billion.

April

Blaize, $106 million: AI computing platform company Blaize announced on April 29th that it had completed a $106 million Series D financing. This round of financing included investors such as Temasek, Franklin Templeton, and Bess Ventures. The company, founded in 2010, has raised a total of $242 million.

Augment, $227 million: Palo Alto-based Augment raised $227 million for its AI coding assistant startup. The Series B financing for this startup was announced on April 24th. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures participated in this round of financing, bringing the startup's valuation close to $1 billion.

Cognition, $175 million: Founders Fund led the $175 million financing round for the AI application lab startup Cognition, which was completed on April 24th. This round of financing came shortly after the company raised $21 million in Series A financing in March from Founders Fund, co-founder of Ramp Eric Glyman, co-founders of Stripe Patrick and John Collison, co-founder of DoorDash Tony Xu, and many other investors Founded in November 2023, the company is valued at nearly $2 billion.

Xaira Therapeutics, $1 billion: San Francisco-based AI drug discovery startup Xaira Therapeutics completed a $1 billion Series A financing on April 23. The round was led by Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners, with participation from Sequoia, NEA, and Lux Capital.

Cyera, $300 million: AI-driven data security platform Cyera, led by Coatue, recently completed a $300 million Series C financing on April 9, bringing the valuation of the New York-based startup to $1.4 billion. Sequoia, Redpoint, and Accel also participated in this round.

March

Celestial AI, $175 million: Celestial AI, founded in 2020, is building an optical interconnect technology platform for data centers and AI solutions. They completed a $175 million Series C financing on March 27, bringing their total funds raised to $338 million. This round was led by Thomas Tull's US Innovative Technology Fund, with participation from M Ventures, Temasek, and Tyche Partners.

FundGuard, $100 million: FundGuard, a New York-based startup providing an AI-driven investment accounting operating system, raised $100 million, valuing the company at $400 million. The Series C financing was completed on March 25, led by Key1 Capital, with participation from Hamilton Lane, Blumberg Capital, and Team8.

Together AI, $106 million: Salesforce Ventures led Together AI's $106 million Series A financing, valuing the company at $1.2 billion. Together AI is a platform aimed at helping create infrastructure and open-source generative AI to develop AI models. NEA, Kleiner Perkins, and Lux Capital also participated in this round. The financing was announced on March 13

Zephyr AI, $111 million: Zephyr AI, headquartered in Fairfax Station, Virginia, completed a $111 million Series A financing on March 13. Revolution Growth, Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, EPIQ Capital Group, and investor Jeff Skoll all participated in this round of financing. The startup was founded in 2020, using AI to enhance drug discovery and precision medicine. So far, a total of $129.5 million has been raised.

February

Glean, $203 million: AI-driven enterprise search startup Glean completed a $203 million Series D financing on February 27, bringing the company's valuation to $2.4 billion. This round of financing was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Sequoia, General Catalyst, and Databricks Ventures, raising over $350 million in total venture capital.

Figure, $675 million: Silicon Valley-based AI robotics startup Figure completed a $675 million Series B financing on February 24, bringing the company's valuation close to $2.7 billion. Nvidia, OpenAI, and Microsoft also participated in this round of financing. Founded in 2022, the startup has raised over $850 million in total funding.

Abridge, $150 million: Pittsburgh-based Abridge, which uses AI to transcribe medical conversations, completed a $150 million Series C financing on February 23. This round of financing was led by Redpoint and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from USV, IVP, and Spark Capital. This financing round valued the six-year-old company at $850 million.

Recogni, $102 million: The company designs high-output, low-power AI interface solutions and completed a $102 million Series C financing on February 20. This round of financing was led by GreatPoint Ventures and Celesta Capital, with participation from Pledge Ventures, Mayfield, and DNS Capital

Lambda, $320 million: San Francisco-based deep learning infrastructure company Lambda announced on February 15th that it has completed a $320 million Series C financing. This round of financing was led by Thomas Tull's US Innovative Technology Fund, with participation from Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, and T. Rowe Price. Lambda has raised over $900 million in venture capital, with a recent valuation of $1.5 billion.

Magic, $117 million: AI coding startup Magic completed a $117 million Series B financing on February 12th. This round of financing was led by NFDG Ventures, with participation from CapitalG and angel investor Elad Gil, raising a total of over $145 million.

January

Kore.ai, $150 million: Startup Kore.ai, which builds conversational AI for enterprises, announced on January 30th that it has completed a $150 million Series D financing. This round of financing was led by FTV Capital, with participation from Nvidia, Vistara Growth, and NextEquity Partners. Kore.ai was founded in 2013 and has raised over $223 million in total funding