NVIDIA's AI Investments: Top Startup Portfolio

Nvidia's Expanding AI Investment Strategy

Few organizations have benefited from the advancements in artificial intelligence as substantially as Nvidia. Since the emergence of ChatGPT over two years ago, and the subsequent launch of numerous competing generative AI platforms, the company’s revenue, profitability, and cash holdings have experienced considerable growth.

This success is reflected in Nvidia’s stock performance, which has risen dramatically, establishing the company’s market capitalization at $4.5 trillion.

Increased Venture Capital Activity

The foremost producer of high-performance GPUs has leveraged its increased financial resources to substantially boost investments in emerging companies, with a particular focus on the AI sector.

According to PitchBook data, Nvidia has been involved in 50 venture capital transactions through the first part of 2025. This already exceeds the 48 deals finalized by the company throughout all of 2024.

It’s important to note that this figure doesn't include investments made through NVentures, Nvidia’s dedicated corporate venture capital arm. NVentures has also significantly accelerated its investment activity, participating in 21 deals this year compared to only one in 2022.

Expanding the AI Ecosystem

Nvidia has publicly articulated that its corporate investment strategy aims to broaden the AI ecosystem. The company focuses on supporting startups identified as potential “game changers and market makers.”

The following list details startups that have secured funding rounds exceeding $100 million since 2023, with Nvidia listed as an investor. They are organized from the largest to the smallest funding round.

Nvidia's Broad Industry Reach

This compilation illustrates the extensive reach Nvidia has achieved within the technology landscape, extending beyond its role as a product supplier.

The company’s investment activities demonstrate a commitment to shaping the future of AI and solidifying its position as a central player in the industry.

The Billion-Dollar Investment Landscape in AI

OpenAI: For the first time, Nvidia provided backing to ChatGPT’s creator in October 2024, contributing a reported $100 million within a substantial $6.6 billion funding round. This valuation placed the company at $157 billion. While other investors, such as Thrive with a $1.3 billion investment, exceeded Nvidia’s contribution, the chipmaker subsequently announced a strategic partnership in September.

This partnership involves a potential investment of up to $100 billion over time, designed to facilitate the deployment of extensive AI infrastructure.

Investments in Emerging AI Companies

xAI: Despite OpenAI’s attempts to discourage investment in competitors, Nvidia participated in a $6 billion funding round for Elon Musk’s xAI in December 2024. Furthermore, Nvidia intends to invest up to $2 billion in the equity portion of xAI’s planned $20 billion funding initiative.

This deal is structured to enable xAI to procure additional Nvidia hardware.

Mistral AI: Nvidia continued its support for Mistral, a French LLM developer, with a third investment during a €1.7 billion (approximately $2 billion) Series C raise in September. This resulted in a post-money valuation of €11.7 billion ($13.5 billion).

Supporting the Next Generation of AI

Reflection AI: In October, Nvidia was a key investor in Reflection AI, contributing to a $2 billion funding round that established an $8 billion valuation for the one-year-old company. Reflection AI aims to become a U.S.-based alternative to Chinese DeepSeek, offering a more cost-effective option to proprietary models.

Thinking Machines Lab: Nvidia joined a group of investors backing Thinking Machines Lab, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, in a $2 billion seed round announced in July. This funding valued the new AI startup at $12 billion.

Shifting Dynamics and Strategic Investments

Inflection: An early significant AI investment by Nvidia took an unexpected turn. In June 2023, Nvidia participated in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round, a company led by DeepMind founder Mustafa Suleyman. However, less than a year later, Microsoft acquired Inflection’s founders.

The acquisition involved a $620 million payment for a non-exclusive technology license, leading to a reduced workforce and an uncertain future for the company.

Nscale: Following a $1.1 billion round in September, Nvidia participated in Nscale’s $433 million SAFE funding in October. This secures future equity for investors. Nscale, originating from Australian cryptocurrency mining firm Arkon Energy, is constructing data centers in the U.K. and Norway for OpenAI’s Stargate project.

Advancing Autonomous Systems and Robotics

Wayve: Nvidia contributed to a $1.05 billion funding round for the U.K.-based startup Wayve in May 2024, which is focused on developing a self-learning system for autonomous driving. Wayve anticipates an additional $500 million investment from Nvidia, as reported in September.

The company is currently testing its vehicles in the U.K. and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Figure AI: In September, Nvidia participated in Figure AI’s Series C funding round exceeding $1 billion, resulting in a $39 billion valuation for the humanoid robotics startup. Nvidia initially invested in Figure in February 2024, contributing to a $675 million Series B round at a $2.6 billion valuation.

Data Infrastructure and AI Training

Scale AI: Nvidia joined Accel, Amazon, and Meta in a $1 billion investment in Scale AI in May 2024, a company providing data-labeling services for AI model training. This round valued the San Francisco-based company at nearly $14 billion.

Subsequently, in June, Meta invested $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in Scale and recruited the company’s co-founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, along with other key personnel.

Investments in the Hundreds of Millions: Nvidia's Portfolio

Commonwealth Fusion saw participation from the leading chipmaker in an $863 million funding round finalized in August 2025. This investment, alongside contributions from entities such as Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, resulted in a company valuation of $3 billion.

Crusoe, a company focused on constructing data centers intended for lease to major players like Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI, secured $686 million in funding during November 2024, as indicated in an SEC filing. Founders Fund spearheaded the investment, with Nvidia also among the contributing investors.

Cohere has received investment from the chipmaker across several funding stages, notably including a $500 million Series D round completed in August. This round established Cohere’s valuation at $6.8 billion. Nvidia initially provided backing to the Toronto-based startup in 2023.

Perplexity initially benefited from Nvidia investment in November 2023, and this support continued through subsequent funding rounds for the AI search engine startup. A $500 million round closed in December 2024 was among these. The chipmaker was involved in a July funding round that valued Perplexity at $18 billion; however, Nvidia did not participate in a later $200 million raise in September, which increased the company’s valuation to $20 billion, according to PitchBook data.

Poolside, an AI coding assistant startup, announced a $500 million funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures in October 2024. Nvidia contributed to this round, which valued the AI startup at $3 billion.

Lambda, an AI cloud provider specializing in model training services, raised a $480 million Series D round at a reported $2.5 billion valuation in February. SGW and Andra Capital co-led the round, with Nvidia, ARK Invest, and others also participating. A substantial portion of Lambda’s operations centers around providing access to servers powered by Nvidia’s GPUs.

CoreWeave, now a public company, previously received investment from Nvidia while still a startup, back in April 2023. At that time, CoreWeave secured $221 million in funding, and Nvidia continues to hold a significant stake.

Together AI saw Nvidia’s participation in its $305 million Series B round in February. This round valued Together AI at $3.3 billion and was co-led by Prosperity7 and General Catalyst. Nvidia first invested in the company in 2023, providing cloud-based infrastructure for building AI models.

Firmus Technologies, a Singapore-based data center company, secured AU$330 million (approximately $215 million) in funding at an AU$1.85 billion ($1.2 billion) valuation in September. Investors included Nvidia. Firmus is developing an energy-efficient “AI factory” in Tasmania, initially focusing on cooling technologies for Bitcoin mining.

Sakana AI received investment from Nvidia in September 2024. The Japan-based startup focuses on training low-cost generative AI models using limited datasets. The company completed a substantial Series A round, raising approximately $214 million at a $1.5 billion valuation.

Nuro benefited from Nvidia’s participation in a $203 million funding round in August, focused on the development of self-driving delivery technology. This deal valued Nuro at $6 billion, representing a 30% decrease from its peak valuation of $8.6 billion in 2021.

Imbue, an AI research lab dedicated to developing AI systems capable of reasoning and coding, raised $200 million in September 2023. Investors included Nvidia, Astera Institute, and Kyle Vogt, former CEO of Cruise.

Waabi, an autonomous trucking startup, secured a $200 million Series B round in June 2024, co-led by Uber and Khosla Ventures. Nvidia, along with Volvo Group Venture Capital and Porsche Automobil Holding SE, also contributed to this funding round.

Significant Investments Exceeding $100 Million

Ayar Labs: During December, Nvidia contributed to a $155 million funding round secured by Ayar Labs. This company specializes in the development of optical interconnects designed to enhance the computational power and energy efficiency of AI systems. Notably, this marks the third instance of Nvidia providing financial backing to the startup.

Kore.ai: The enterprise AI chatbot developer, Kore.ai, successfully raised $150 million in December 2023. Alongside Nvidia, key investors in this funding round included FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity.

Sandbox AQ: In April, Nvidia joined forces with Google, BNP Paribas, and other investors to contribute $150 million to Sandbox AQ. This startup is focused on creating large quantitative models (LQMs) for complex numerical and statistical analysis. The investment brought Sandbox AQ’s Series E round to a total of $450 million, resulting in a company valuation of $5.75 billion.

Hippocratic AI: Announcing a $141 million Series B funding round in January, Hippocratic AI – a developer of large language models specifically for healthcare applications – achieved a valuation of $1.64 billion. Kleiner Perkins led the round, with Nvidia and existing investors like Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst also participating. The company asserts its AI solutions are capable of managing patient-facing tasks that aren't diagnostic, such as pre-operative protocols, remote monitoring, and appointment scheduling.

Weka: Nvidia participated in a $140 million investment round for Weka in May 2024. Weka provides an AI-native data management platform and, following this round, was valued at $1.6 billion. The company is based in Silicon Valley.

Runway: Nvidia was among the investors in Runway’s $308 million funding round in April. Led by General Atlantic, this investment valued the generative AI model developer for media production at $3.55 billion, as reported by PitchBook. The chipmaker has been an investor in Runway since 2023.

Bright Machines: In June 2024, Nvidia contributed to a $126 million Series C funding round for Bright Machines, a company specializing in smart robotics and AI-powered software solutions.

Enfabrica: Nvidia invested in a $125 million Series B round for networking chips designer Enfabrica in September 2023. However, the startup subsequently raised an additional $115 million in November without Nvidia’s participation.

Reka AI: AI research lab Reka secured $110 million in funding during July, with both Snowflake and Nvidia included as investors. This investment tripled the startup’s valuation, exceeding $1 billion, according to Bloomberg reports.

Note

An update has been made to clarify Nvidia’s role as one of several significant investors in Reflection AI.

This article was originally published in January 2025.