Exploring Nvidia’s AI Empire: A Deep Dive into Its Most Strategic Startup Investments

Nvidia has emerged as a frontrunner in the AI revolution, experiencing an unprecedented surge in revenue, profitability, and cash reserves since the launch of ChatGPT over two years ago. This growth has been accompanied by a remarkable increase in its stock price and a significant uptick in investments, particularly in AI startups. Let’s explore how Nvidia is shaping the future of artificial intelligence through strategic investments.

Nvidia’s Investment Surge in AI Startups

In 2024, Nvidia ramped up its venture capital activities, participating in 49 funding rounds for AI companies, a notable increase from just 34 in 2023, as reported by PitchBook. This dramatic surge in investment stands in stark contrast to the previous four years combined, during which Nvidia funded only 38 AI deals. It’s important to note that these figures exclude investments made through its corporate venture capital fund, NVentures, which also significantly increased its investment activity, engaging in 24 deals in 2024 compared to only 2 in 2022.

Key Goals of Nvidia’s Corporate Investing

Nvidia aims to expand the AI ecosystem by investing in startups that it identifies as “game changers” and “market makers.” Here are some of the impressive startups that have raised significant funding with Nvidia’s backing since 2023:

The Billion-Dollar Round Club

• OpenAI: Nvidia invested $100 million in OpenAI’s $6.6 billion funding round in October, valuing the company at $157 billion. Notably, Thrive contributed $1.3 billion to this round.
• xAI: Nvidia participated in a $6 billion funding round for Elon Musk’s xAI, despite its previous investment in OpenAI.
• Inflection: Nvidia led a $1.3 billion round for Inflection, founded by DeepMind’s Mustafa Suleyman, which later saw Microsoft acquiring its founders for $620 million.
• Wayve: In May, Nvidia joined a $1.05 billion round for this U.K.-based startup focused on autonomous driving technology.
• Scale AI: Nvidia co-invested $1 billion in Scale AI, a data-labeling service provider, alongside Amazon and Meta, valuing the company at nearly $14 billion.

Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Club

• Crusoe: This startup raised $686 million to build data centers leased to major tech companies, with Nvidia as a participant.
• Figure AI: The AI robotics firm raised $675 million in February 2024, valuing it at $2.6 billion.
• Mistral AI: Nvidia invested in Mistral’s $640 million Series B funding round in June.
• Lambda: Nvidia participated in a $480 million Series D round for Lambda, a cloud provider vital for training AI models.
• Cohere: This language model provider raised $500 million in June with Nvidia’s support.

Deals Exceeding $100 Million

• Ayar Labs: Nvidia invested $155 million in December 2023 for developing optical interconnects.
• Kore.ai: This enterprise chatbot startup raised $150 million in December 2023 with Nvidia’s involvement.
• Hippocratic AI: The healthcare-focused AI developer raised $141 million in January 2024.
• Weka: Nvidia participated in a $140 million funding round for the AI-native data management platform in May.
• Runway: In June 2023, Runway secured $141 million for its generative AI tools.

As Nvidia continues to navigate the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, its strategic investments position the company as a key player in shaping the future of AI technology. For more updates on AI developments, visit our AI news section.

Editor’s Note: Previous versions of this article inaccurately stated that Nvidia is a backer of Safe Superintelligence and has invested in Vast Data’s Series E round. Nvidia has not invested in Vast Data since the Series D.