The biggest backer of AI! NVIDIA has invested in these companies over the past two years
NVIDIA participated in 49 rounds of AI company financing in 2024, among which the investment targets with a total financing amount exceeding one billion dollars include OpenAI, xAI, the hardware and application technology company Inflection focused on machine learning, the autonomous driving startup Wayve, the new company Safe Superintelligence founded by OpenAI's chief scientist, and the AI company Scale AI that provides high-quality training data
NVIDIA ramps up AI investment, with over 5 investments in the billion-dollar range!
In the past two years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, NVIDIA, as a global leader in high-performance GPU manufacturing, has not only achieved explosive growth in performance but has also significantly expanded its investment layout in the AI field. NVIDIA stated that their investment goal is to support startups that are considered "game changers and market creators."
According to PitchBook data, NVIDIA participated in 49 rounds of AI company financing in 2024, a significant increase from 34 rounds in 2023, and far exceeding the total of 38 rounds in the previous four years. In comparison, Alphabet participated in 73 rounds of financing in the past two years, while Microsoft conducted 40 rounds.
Here are some of NVIDIA's significant AI investments in the past two years, covering various AI application fields such as large language models, autonomous driving, and robotics:
Companies with total financing exceeding one billion dollars
OpenAI: In October 2023, NVIDIA made its first investment in OpenAI, reportedly participating in a financing round totaling $6.6 billion, investing $100 million;
xAI: After investing in OpenAI in October, NVIDIA participated in Elon Musk's xAI company's $6 billion financing round in the following months;
Hardware and application technology company Inflection, focused on machine learning and generative artificial intelligence: In June 2023, NVIDIA, as one of the main investors, participated in Inflection's $1.3 billion financing round;
UK autonomous driving startup Wayve: In May 2024, NVIDIA participated in Wayve's $1.05 billion financing;
Safe Superintelligence, a new company founded by OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever: In September 2024, NVIDIA participated in Safe Superintelligence's $1 billion financing;
AI company Scale AI, focused on providing high-quality training data: In May 2024, NVIDIA, along with tech giants like Accel, Amazon, and Meta, invested $1 billion in Scale AI.
Companies with total financing exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars
Data center startup Crusoe: In November 2023, NVIDIA participated in Crusoe's $686 million financing;
AI robotics startup Figure AI: In February 2024, Figure AI secured $675 million in Series B financing, with participation from NVIDIA, OpenAI Startup Fund, Microsoft, and others;
French large language model developer Mistral AI: In June 2024, NVIDIA made its second investment in Mistral AI, participating in its $640 million Series B financing;Enterprise-level large language model provider Cohere: In June 2024, NVIDIA invested in Cohere again, participating in its $500 million financing round;
AI search engine startup Perplexity: Since NVIDIA's initial investment in Perplexity in November 2023, it has participated in all subsequent financing rounds, including the $500 million financing in December 2023;
AI coding assistant startup Poolside: In October 2023, NVIDIA participated in Poolside's $500 million financing round;
Companies with total financing exceeding $100 million
In addition to the larger investments mentioned above, NVIDIA has also participated in the financing of several AI-related startups, including CoreWeave, Sakana AI, Imbue, Waabi, Ayar Labs, Kore.ai, Weka, Runway, Bright Machines, Vast Data, and Enfabrica