No company has leveraged the AI revolution as dramatically as Nvidia. Since the launch of ChatGPT over two years ago, its revenue, profitability, and cash reserves have surged, along with its stock price.
In this period, the world’s leading high-performance GPU maker significantly increased its investments, particularly in AI startups. In 2024, Nvidia participated in 49 funding rounds for AI companies, up from 34 in 2023, according to PitchBook data. This marks a significant increase, as the previous four years combined saw only 38 AI deals. Notably, these figures exclude investments from its corporate VC fund, NVentures, which also ramped up its activity, engaging in 24 deals in 2024 compared to just 2 in 2022.
In 2025, Nvidia has already taken part in seven funding rounds.
The company aims to enhance the AI ecosystem by backing startups it considers “game changers and market makers.” Below is a list of startups that raised over $100 million with Nvidia as a participant since 2023, organized by the amount raised.
The Billion-Dollar Round Club
- OpenAI: Nvidia invested $100 million in October 2023 during OpenAI’s $6.6 billion round, which valued the company at $157 billion.
- xAI: Nvidia joined Elon Musk’s xAI in a $6 billion round, despite OpenAI’s request for investors not to back competitors.
- Inflection: Nvidia was a lead investor in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round in June 2023, but Microsoft later acquired Inflection’s founders, altering its future.
- Wayve: Nvidia participated in a $1.05 billion round for this U.K. startup developing autonomous driving systems.
- Scale AI: Nvidia joined a $1 billion investment in May 2024, valuing the data-labeling service provider at nearly $14 billion.
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The Hundreds-of-Millions Club
- Crusoe: This startup raised $686 million in November 2023 to build data centers, with Nvidia among the investors.
- Figure AI: In February 2024, Figure raised $675 million from Nvidia and others, valuing the company at $2.6 billion.
- Mistral AI: Nvidia invested in Mistral’s $640 million Series B in June 2024.
- Lambda: The AI cloud provider raised $480 million in February 2024, with Nvidia participating.
- Cohere: Nvidia backed Cohere’s $500 million round in June 2024, a provider of large language models.
- Perplexity: Nvidia continued to invest in Perplexity, participating in a $500 million round in December 2024, valuing it at $9 billion.
- Poolside: This AI coding assistant raised $500 million in October, with Nvidia as an investor.
- CoreWeave: Nvidia invested $221 million in April 2023, leading to a significant valuation increase and an IPO filing.
- Together AI: Nvidia participated in a $305 million Series B in February 2024.
- Sakana AI: This Japanese startup raised $214 million in September 2024.
- Imbue: The AI research lab raised $200 million in September 2023, with Nvidia as a key investor.
- Waabi: The startup focused on autonomous trucking raised $200 million in June 2024.
Notable Deals Over $100 Million
- Ayar Labs: In December 2024, Nvidia invested in a $155 million round for this optical interconnects company.
- Kore.ai: The enterprise AI chatbot developer raised $150 million in December 2023, with Nvidia among the backers.
- Sandbox AQ: Nvidia participated in a $150 million investment in April, boosting Sandbox AQ’s valuation to $5.75 billion.
- Hippocratic AI: The healthcare-focused AI startup raised $141 million in January 2024, with Nvidia participating.
- Weka: Nvidia invested in a $140 million round for this AI-native data management platform in May 2024.
- Runway: The generative AI tools startup raised $141 million in June 2023, with Nvidia among the investors.
- Bright Machines: Nvidia participated in a $126 million Series C in June 2024.
- Enfabrica: Nvidia invested in a $125 million Series B in September 2023, but did not participate in a subsequent round.
SOURCE: TECH CRUNCH
