NVIDIA invests in Japanese AI startup Sakana AI
NVIDIA has participated in a Series A financing round for the Japanese artificial intelligence startup Sakana AI, exceeding $100 million, making it one of its largest investments in Japan. Following the financing, Sakana AI's valuation will exceed $1 billion, with NVIDIA becoming its major shareholder. This round of financing will facilitate cooperation between the two parties in research and artificial intelligence community building in Japan. Sakana AI has already launched AI models for Japanese users and is utilizing algorithms to reduce manual input
According to the Zhitong Finance APP, NVIDIA (NVDA.US) has participated in a Series A financing round of over $100 million for the Japanese artificial intelligence startup Sakana AI. This is one of NVIDIA's largest investments in the field of artificial intelligence in Japan to date.
Reports indicate that Sakana AI completed the Series A financing round on Wednesday, led by New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital, with NVIDIA also participating.
Furthermore, it is reported that Sakana AI raised approximately 20 billion yen (about $137 million) in the Series A financing. NVIDIA will invest several billion yen (tens of millions of dollars), seemingly as the largest contributor, and will become a major shareholder of Sakana AI. Following this financing round, Sakana AI's valuation will exceed $1 billion. It is worth mentioning that Sakana AI announced new cooperation with NVIDIA in research, infrastructure, and artificial intelligence community development in Japan.
Sakana AI has already begun using small datasets to train low-cost generative artificial intelligence models. The company has launched several artificial intelligence models for Japanese users this year, demonstrating how quickly Japanese companies are improving their capabilities in this field. The company states that its algorithms can help automatically create artificial intelligence models by mimicking natural selection to process language or images, thereby reducing the amount of manual input required.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang expressed particular interest in Sakana AI's efforts to promote artificial intelligence in Japan. Huang stated, "Countries around the world are embracing sovereign AI through their unique large language models, capturing and compiling their data, culture, and language." "Sakana AI's team is helping to drive the popularization of artificial intelligence in Japan."