Nvidia has been a front-runner in capitalizing on the AI revolution, with a surge in revenue, profitability, and cash reserves since the introduction of ChatGPT two years ago. The company’s stock price has also seen significant growth, increasing more than eightfold.
During this period, Nvidia has intensified its investment efforts in various startups, particularly those in the AI space.
In 2024, Nvidia significantly ramped up its venture capital activities, participating in 49 funding rounds for AI companies, a notable increase from 34 in the previous year. This surge in investment marked a significant shift compared to the past four years, where Nvidia funded only 38 AI deals. The company’s corporate VC fund, NVentures, also saw a substantial uptick in investments over the last two years.
Nvidia’s investment strategy aims to boost the AI ecosystem by supporting startups that are deemed as “game changers and market makers.”
While other tech giants are also investing in AI startups, Nvidia has emerged as the most active investor over the past two years. In comparison to Alphabet and Microsoft, Nvidia has led the way with 83 deals in 2023 and 2024.
Listed below are several startups that raised significant funding rounds over the past two years, where Nvidia played a crucial role in the investments:
The billion-dollar-round club
OpenAI: Nvidia joined OpenAI’s $6.6 billion round in October, contributing $100 million to the massive funding, which valued the company at $157 billion.
xAI: Nvidia participated in the $6 billion funding round of xAI, Elon Musk’s AI venture, which attracted several prominent investors.
Inflection: Nvidia was a lead investor in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round in June 2023, with the company subsequently acquired by Microsoft.
Wayve: In May, Nvidia took part in Wayve’s $1.05 billion funding round for its self-learning autonomous driving technology.
Safe Superintelligence: Nvidia backed the AI startup founded by former OpenAI scientist Ilya Sutskever, raising $1 billion in September.
Scale AI: Nvidia, alongside other tech giants, invested $1 billion in Scale AI in May 2024, focusing on data-labeling services for AI model training.
The many-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars club
Crusoe: Crusoe, a data center startup, raised $686 million with Nvidia as one of the investors.
Figure AI: Figure, an AI robotics startup, secured a $675 million Series B round with investments from Nvidia and other prominent firms.
Mistral AI: Nvidia participated in Mistral AI’s $640 million Series B funding round in June.
Cohere: Cohere, a large language model provider, received $500 million in funding, with Nvidia being one of the investors.
Perplexity: Nvidia backed Perplexity’s $500 million round in December, focusing on AI search engine development.
Poolside: Poolside, an AI coding assistant startup, raised $500 million with Nvidia as an investor.
CoreWeave: Nvidia invested in CoreWeave’s AI cloud computing platform, with the startup targeting a $35 billion IPO.
Sakana AI: Nvidia participated in Sakana AI’s $214 million Series A round in September.
Imbue: Imbue, an AI research lab, raised $200 million in September.
Waabi: Waabi, an autonomous trucking startup, raised $200 million in a Series B round with Nvidia as one of the investors.
Deals of over a $100 million
Ayar Labs: Ayar Labs, focused on optical interconnects for AI compute, raised $155 million, with Nvidia investing in the company multiple times.
Kore.ai: Kore.ai, an enterprise-focused AI chatbot developer, secured $150 million in funding in December 2023.
Weka: Nvidia invested in Weka’s $140 million round for their AI-native data management platform.
Runway: Runway, specializing in generative AI tools, received a $141 million Series C extension in June 2023.
Bright Machines: Nvidia participated in Bright Machines’ $126 million Series C round in June 2024.
Vast Data: Vast Data, offering storage solutions, raised $118 million in a Series E round, with Nvidia as one of the investors.
Enfabrica: Enfabrica, a networking chips designer, attracted Nvidia’s investment in its $125 million Series B round in September 2023.
