AI Investment: A Booming Market

Despite some talk of "AI fatigue," venture investors haven't slowed down their funding of artificial intelligence (AI) startups. In the first half of 2024 alone, more than $35.5 billion was invested into AI startups globally. This shows that the AI market remains a strong focus for investors, highlighting its potential to drive innovation and transform industries.

Five of the six venture rounds that raised over $1 billion in the first half of 2024 were in the AI sector. This trend has continued into the second half of the year, with another 10 mega-round deals totaling over $3 billion. One of these deals, worth $1 billion, went to a new company launched by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever.

August

Magic, an AI coding startup, raised $320 million in a Series C round. The funding came from investors including CapitalG, Sequoia, and Jane Street Capital. The company previously raised $117 million in a Series B round in February.

Codeium, an AI-powered coding platform, secured $150 million in a Series C round led by General Catalyst. Other investors included Kleiner Perkins and Greenoaks, valuing Codeium at $1.2 billion.

DevRev, an AI support agent company, reached a $1.1 billion valuation after raising $100 million in a Series A round. Investors included Khosla Ventures, Mayfield, and Param Hansa Values.

Abnormal Security, an AI-driven email security company, raised $250 million in a funding round led by Wellington Management. The round included participation from Menlo Ventures, Greylock, and Insight Partners, valuing the company at over $5 billion.

Groq, an AI chip startup, announced a $640 million Series D round led by BlackRock. Other investors included Type One Ventures, Verdure Capital Management, and Neuberger Berman, pushing the company's valuation beyond $3 billion.

July

World Labs, founded by AI researcher Fei-Fei Li, raised $100 million in a round led by NEA. The startup, valued at over $1 billion, focuses on building AI models for accurately estimating the 3D physicality of real-world objects.

Harvey, a legal tech company backed by OpenAI, raised $100 million in a Series C round. The round was led by Google Ventures with participation from OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, and Sequoia, valuing Harvey at $1.5 billion.

Hebbia, an AI-powered search engine, raised $130 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The company's valuation reached $700 million, with other investors including Peter Thiel, Index Ventures, and Google Ventures.

Skild AI, a robotics company, secured $300 million in a Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, and Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions. The round, which included participation from Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, and General Catalyst, valued Skild AI at $1.5 billion.

June

Bright Machines, a company specializing in smart robotics and AI-driven software, raised $106 million in a Series C round led by BlackRock. Other investors included Nvidia, Microsoft, and Eclipse Ventures. The company has raised over $437 million in total funding.

Etched.ai, a company developing specialized AI chips, raised $120 million in a Series A round led by Primary Venture Partners and Positive Sum. Other investors included Two Sigma Ventures, Peter Thiel, and Kyle Vogt.

EvolutionaryScale, a startup creating biological AI models for therapeutic design, raised $142 million in a seed round. The round was led by Lux Capital, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and Daniel Gross.

AKASA, a healthcare revenue cycle automation platform, raised $120 million in a funding round. Investors included Andreessen Horowitz, Costanoa Ventures, and Bond.

AlphaSense, a market intelligence platform, raised $650 million in a Series F round led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners. Other investors included CapitalG, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Goldman Sachs, valuing AlphaSense at $4 billion.

May

xAI, founded by Elon Musk, raised a staggering $6 billion in a Series B round. Investors included Sequoia, Valor Equity Partners, and Fidelity, pushing the company's valuation to $24 billion.

Scale AI, a data labeling startup, raised $1 billion in a Series F round led by Accel. Other investors included Tiger Global, Spark Capital, and Amazon. The round valued Scale AI at nearly $14 billion.

Suno, an AI-music creation platform, raised $125 million in a Series B round. Investors included Founder Collective, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and former head of AI at Y Combinator Daniel Gross.

Weka, a company developing an AI-native data platform, raised $140 million in a Series E round. Investors included Valor Equity Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Nvidia, and Hitachi Ventures, valuing Weka at $1.6 billion.

CoreWeave, a GPU infrastructure provider, raised $1.1 billion in a Series C round led by Coatue. Other investors included Fidelity, Altimeter Capital, and Magnetar Capital. CoreWeave was valued at $19 billion.

April

Blaize, an AI computing platform company, raised $106 million in a Series D round. Investors included Temasek, Franklin Templeton, and Bess Ventures.

Augment, an AI coding assistance startup, raised $227 million in a Series B round. Investors included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures, pushing the company's valuation near $1 billion.

Cognition, an applied AI lab startup, raised $175 million in a funding round led by Founders Fund. The company was valued at nearly $2 billion, having raised a $21 million Series A round just a month prior.

Xaira Therapeutics, an AI drug discovery startup, raised $1 billion in a Series A round led by Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners. Investors included Sequoia, NEA, and Lux Capital.

Cyera, an AI-powered data security platform, raised $300 million in a Series C round led by Coatue. Other investors included Sequoia, Redpoint, and Accel, valuing Cyera at $1.4 billion.

March

Celestial AI, a company building optical interconnect technology for data centers and AI solutions, raised $175 million in a Series C round led by Thomas Tull's US Innovative Technology Fund. Other investors included M Ventures, Temasek, and Tyche Partners. The round brought Celestial AI's total funding to $338 million.

FundGuard, an AI-powered investment accounting operating system, raised $100 million in a Series C round led by Key1 Capital. Other investors included Hamilton Lane, Blumberg Capital, and Team8.

Together AI, a platform for building open-source generative AI, raised $106 million in a Series A round led by Salesforce Ventures. Other investors included NEA, Kleiner Perkins, and Lux Capital. The round valued Together AI at $1.2 billion.

Zephyr AI, a startup using AI for drug discovery and precision medicine, raised $111 million in a Series A round. Investors included Revolution Growth, Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, EPIQ Capital Group, and investor Jeff Skoll.

February

Glean, an AI-driven enterprise search startup, raised $203 million in a Series D round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins. Other investors included Sequoia and Databricks Ventures, valuing Glean at $2.2 billion.

Figure, an AI robotics startup, raised $675 million in a Series B round. Investors included Nvidia, OpenAI, and Microsoft, valuing Figure at nearly $2.7 billion.

Abridge, a company using AI to transcribe medical conversations, raised $150 million in a Series C round led by Redpoint and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Other investors included USV, IVP, and Spark Capital, valuing Abridge at $850 million.

Recogni, a company designing AI interface solutions, raised $102 million in a Series C round led by GreatPoint Ventures and Celesta Capital. Other investors included Pledge Ventures, Mayfield, and DNS Capital.

Lambda, a deep learning infrastructure company, raised $320 million in a Series C round led by Thomas Tull's US Innovative Technology Fund. Other investors included Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, and T. Rowe Price, valuing Lambda at $1.5 billion.

Magic, an AI coding startup, raised $117 million in a Series B round led by NFDG Ventures. Other investors included CapitalG and angel investor Elad Gil.

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