AI Investment Boom Persists Despite Fatigue for Some
While some may experience "AI fatigue," venture capital investors show no signs of waning interest in artificial intelligence. The third quarter of 2024 saw AI investments dominate, with companies in the sector securing $18.9 billion—accounting for 28% of all venture funding, according to Crunchbase.
A standout moment in Q3 was the historic $6.6 billion funding round for OpenAI, the largest venture deal ever. OpenAI’s raise was among six AI deals exceeding $1 billion this year.
Major U.S. AI Funding Rounds in 2024
Below is a summary of U.S.-based AI companies that raised $100 million or more in 2024:
November
- Physical Intelligence: This robotics software company, co-founded by Sergey Levine and Lachy Groom, secured $400 million in a Series A round, valuing it at over $2 billion. Investors included Lux Capital, Sequoia, and Jeff Bezos.
October
- Sierra: Founded by Bret Taylor, this enterprise chatbot developer raised $175 million, reaching a $4.5 billion valuation. Greenoaks led the round with Thrive Capital and Iconiq Capital participating.
- Nimble Robotics: This autonomous warehouse robotics firm raised $106 million in a Series C round, entering unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation.
- Lightmatter: The photonic computing startup secured $400 million in a Series D round led by T. Rowe Price, valuing it at $4.4 billion.
- Path Robotics: This autonomous welding startup raised $100 million in a Series D round, co-led by Matter Venture Partners and Drive Capital.
- EvenUp: The AI-powered legal tech startup raised $135 million in a Series D round, hitting a $1 billion valuation.
- KoBold Metals: A Berkeley-based company raised $491.5 million to advance its AI-driven mineral exploration.
- Poolside: The AI software development platform closed a $500 million Series B round, valuing it at $3 billion.
- OpenAI: The company raised $6.6 billion, achieving a valuation of $157 billion, in a round led by Thrive Capital.
September
- Glean: The enterprise search startup raised $260 million in a Series E round, boosting its valuation to $4.5 billion.
- Safe Superintelligence: Co-founded by Ilya Sutskever, this AI research lab raised $1 billion, valuing it at $4 billion.
August
- Magic: The AI coding startup raised $320 million in a Series C round, following its $117 million Series B in February.
- Codeium: An AI-powered coding platform raised $150 million in a Series C round, reaching a $1.2 billion valuation.
- DevRev: The AI support platform raised $100 million in a Series A round, achieving a $1.1 billion valuation.
- Abnormal Security: This email security company raised $250 million, reaching a valuation above $5 billion.
- Groq: The AI chip startup raised $640 million, valued at $3 billion.
July
- World Labs: Fei-Fei Li’s AI startup raised $100 million, reaching unicorn status.
- Harvey: The legal tech company raised $100 million in a Series C round, valued at $1.5 billion.
- Hebbia: This generative AI search company raised $130 million, securing a $700 million valuation.
- Skild AI: The robotics technology firm raised $300 million, hitting a $1.5 billion valuation.
June
- Bright Machines: This robotics startup raised $106 million in a Series C round.
- Etched.ai: The company raised $120 million to create faster, cheaper AI model-running chips.
- EvolutionaryScale: A biological AI developer raised $142 million in a seed round.
May
- xAI: Elon Musk’s startup raised $6 billion, valuing it at $24 billion.
- Scale AI: The data-labeling company raised $1 billion, reaching a $14 billion valuation.
April
- Blaize: The AI computing firm raised $106 million in a Series D round.
- Xaira Therapeutics: This AI drug discovery startup raised $1 billion in a Series A round.
March
- Celestial AI: The optical interconnect company raised $175 million in a Series C round.
- FundGuard: The investment accounting AI platform raised $100 million.
February
- Lambda: This deep learning infrastructure company raised $320 million in a Series C round.
January
- Kore.ai: The conversational AI firm raised $150 million in a Series D round.
AI’s Continuing Influence
The robust funding activity showcases the sustained investor enthusiasm in AI across diverse applications, from robotics and drug discovery to enterprise software and legal tech. Despite concerns about overexposure, the sector’s innovation and profitability remain a magnet for capital.
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