No company has capitalized on the AI revolution more dramatically than Nvidia. Its revenue, profitability, and cash reserves have skyrocketed since the introduction of ChatGPT over two years ago and the many competitive generative AI services that have launched since. Its stock price has soared, making it a four and a half trillion dollar market cap company.
The world’s leading high-performance GPU maker has used its ballooning fortunes to significantly increase investments in startups, particularly in AI. Nvidia has participated in fifty venture capital deals so far in 2025, already surpassing the forty-eight deals the company completed in all of 2024, according to PitchBook data. Note that these investments exclude those made by its formal corporate VC fund, NVentures, which also significantly increased its investment pace over that period. PitchBook says NVentures engaged in twenty-one deals this year, compared to just one in 2022.
Nvidia has stated that the goal of its corporate investing is to expand the AI ecosystem by backing startups it considers to be game changers and market makers. Below is a list of startups that raised rounds exceeding one hundred million dollars since 2023 where Nvidia is a named participant, organized from the highest to lowest amount raised in the round. This list shows just how far and wide Nvidia has spread its influence in the tech industry, beyond supplying its products.
The Billion-Dollar-Round Club
OpenAI: Nvidia backed the ChatGPT maker for the first time in October 2024, reportedly writing a one hundred million dollar check as part of a colossal six point six billion dollar round that valued the company at one hundred fifty-seven billion dollars. The chipmaker’s investment was dwarfed by OpenAI’s other backers, notably Thrive, which according to the New York Times invested one point three billion dollars. While PitchBook data indicates Nvidia did not participate in OpenAI’s forty billion dollar funding round that closed in March, the chipmaker announced in September that it would invest up to one hundred billion dollars in the company over time, structured as a strategic partnership to deploy massive AI infrastructure.
xAI: In 2024, OpenAI tried to persuade its investors not to invest in any of its rivals. But Nvidia participated in the six billion dollar round of Elon Musk’s xAI last December anyway. Nvidia will also invest up to two billion dollars in the equity portion of xAI’s planned twenty billion dollar funding round, Bloomberg reported, a deal structured to help xAI purchase more Nvidia gear.
Mistral AI: Nvidia invested in Mistral for the third time when the French-based large language model developer raised one point seven billion euros, about two billion dollars, in a Series C round at an eleven point seven billion euro, or thirteen point five billion dollar, post-money valuation in September.
Reflection AI: In October, Nvidia led a two billion dollar funding round for Reflection AI, a one-year-old startup, valuing the company at eight billion dollars. Reflection AI is positioning itself as a US-based competitor to Chinese DeepSeek, whose open-source large language model offers a less-expensive alternative to closed-source models from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
Thinking Machines Lab: Nvidia was among a long list of investors who backed former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab’s two billion dollar seed round. The funding, which was formally announced in July, valued the new AI startup at twelve billion dollars.
Inflection: One of Nvidia’s first significant AI investments also had one of the more unusual outcomes. In June 2023, Nvidia was one of several lead investors in Inflection’s one point three billion dollar round, a company co-founded by Mustafa Suleyman, the famed founder of DeepMind. Less than a year later, Microsoft hired Inflection’s founders, paying six hundred twenty million dollars for a non-exclusive technology license, leaving the company with a significantly diminished workforce and a less defined future.
Nscale: After the startup’s one point one billion dollar round in September, Nvidia participated in Nscale’s four hundred thirty-three million dollar SAFE funding in October. That’s a deal that secures future equity for investors. Nscale, which formed in 2023 after spinning out of Australian cryptocurrency mining company Akorn Energy, is building data centers in the UK and Norway for OpenAI’s Stargate project.
Wayve: In May 2024, Nvidia participated in a one point zero five billion dollar round for the U.K.-based startup, which is developing a self-learning system for autonomous driving. Nvidia is expected to invest an additional five hundred million dollars in Wayve, the startup told TechCrunch in September. Wayve is testing its vehicles in the U.K. and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Figure AI: In September, Nvidia participated in the Figure AI’s Series C funding round of over one billion dollars, which valued the humanoid robotics startup at thirty-nine billion dollars. The chipmaker first invested in Figure in February 2024 when the company raised a six hundred seventy-five million dollar Series B round at a two point six billion dollar valuation.
Scale AI: In May 2024, Nvidia joined Accel and other tech giants Amazon and Meta to invest one billion dollars in Scale AI, which provides data-labeling services to companies for training AI models. The round valued the San Francisco-based company at nearly fourteen billion dollars. In June, Meta invested fourteen point three billion dollars for a forty-nine percent stake of Scale, and hired away the company’s co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang, as well as several other key Scale employees.
The Many-Hundreds-of-Millions-of-Dollars Club
Commonwealth Fusion: The chipmaker participated in the nuclear fusion-energy startup’s eight hundred sixty-three million dollar funding round in August 2025. The deal, which also included investors like Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, valued the company at three billion dollars.
Crusoe: A startup building data centers reportedly to be leased to Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI raised six hundred eighty-six million dollars in November 2024, according to an SEC filing. The investment was led by Founders Fund, and the long list of other investors included Nvidia.
Cohere: The chipmaker has invested in enterprise large language model provider Cohere across multiple funding rounds, including the five hundred million dollar Series D, which closed in August, valuing Cohere at six point eight billion dollars. Nvidia first backed the Toronto-based startup in 2023.
Perplexity: Nvidia first invested in Perplexity in November 2023 and has participated in most of the subsequent funding rounds of the AI search engine startup, including the five hundred million dollar round closed in December 2024. The chipmaker participated in the company’s July funding round, which valued Perplexity at eighteen billion dollars. However, Nvidia did not join the startup’s subsequent two hundred million dollar fundraise in September, which boosted the company’s valuation to twenty billion dollars, according to PitchBook data.
Poolside: In October 2024, the AI coding assistant startup Poolside announced it raised five hundred million dollars led by Bain Capital Ventures. Nvidia participated in the round, which valued the AI startup at three billion dollars.
Lambda: AI cloud provider Lambda, which provides services for model training, raised a four hundred eighty million dollar Series D at a reported two point five billion dollar valuation in February. The round was co-led by SGW and Andra Capital Lambda, and joined by Nvidia, ARK Invest, and others. A significant part of Lambda’s business involves renting servers powered by Nvidia’s GPUs.
CoreWeave: Although CoreWeave is no longer a startup, but a public company, Nvidia invested in the GPU-cloud provider when it was still one, back in April 2023. That’s when CoreWeave raised two hundred twenty-one million dollars in funding. Nvidia remains a significant shareholder.
Together AI: In February, Nvidia participated in the three hundred five million dollar Series B of this company, which offers cloud-based infrastructure for building AI models. The round valued Together AI at three point three billion dollars and was co-led by Prosperity7, a Saudi Arabian venture firm, and General Catalyst. Nvidia backed the company for the first time in 2023.
Firmus Technologies: In September, Firmus Technologies, the Singapore-based data center company, received three hundred thirty million Australian dollars, approximately two hundred fifteen million US dollars, in funding at a one point eight five billion Australian dollar, or one point two billion US dollar, valuation from investors, including Nvidia. Firmus is developing an energy-efficient AI factory in Tasmania, an island state of Australia. The startup originally provided cooling technologies for Bitcoin mining.
Sakana AI: In September 2024, Nvidia invested in the Japan-based startup, which trains low-cost generative AI models using small datasets. The startup raised a massive Series A round of about two hundred fourteen million dollars at a valuation of one point five billion dollars.
Nuro: In August, Nvidia participated in the two hundred three million dollar funding round for the self-driving startup focused on delivery. The deal valued Nuro at six billion dollars, a significant thirty percent drop from its peak at eight point six billion dollar valuation in 2021.
Imbue: The AI research lab that claims to be developing AI systems that can reason and code raised a two hundred million dollar round in September 2023 from investors, including Nvidia, Astera Institute, and former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt.
Waabi: In June 2024, the autonomous trucking startup raised a two hundred million dollar Series B round co-led by existing investors Uber and Khosla Ventures. Other investors included Nvidia, Volvo Group Venture Capital, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Deals of Over One Hundred Million Dollars
Ayar Labs: In December, Nvidia invested in the one hundred fifty-five million dollar round of Ayar Labs, a company developing optical interconnects to improve AI compute and power efficiency. This was the third time Nvidia backed the startup.
Kore.ai: The startup developing enterprise-focused AI chatbots raised one hundred fifty million dollars in December of 2023. In addition to Nvidia, investors participating in the funding included FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity.
Sandbox AQ: In April, Nvidia, alongside Google, BNP Paribas, and others, invested one hundred fifty million dollars in Sandbox AQ, a startup developing large quantitative models for handling complex numerical analysis and statistical calculations. The investment increased Sandbox AQ’s Series E round to four hundred fifty million dollars and the company’s valuation to five point seven five billion dollars.
Hippocratic AI: This startup, which is developing large language models for healthcare, announced in January that it raised a one hundred forty-one million dollar Series B at a valuation of one point six four billion dollars led by Kleiner Perkins. Nvidia participated in the round, along with returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and others. The company claims that its AI solutions can handle non-diagnostic patient-facing tasks such as pre-operating procedures, remote patient monitoring, and appointment preparation.
Weka: In May 2024, Nvidia invested in a one hundred forty million dollar round for AI-native data management platform Weka. The round valued the Silicon Valley company at one point six billion dollars.
Runway: In April, Nvidia participated in Runway’s three hundred eight million dollar round, which was led by General Atlantic and valued the startup developing generative AI models for media production at three point five five billion dollars, according to PitchBook data. The chipmaker has been an investor since 2023.
Bright Machines: In June 2024, Nvidia participated in a one hundred twenty-six million dollar Series C for Bright Machines, a smart robotics and AI-driven software startup.
Enfabrica: In September 2023, Nvidia invested in networking chips designer Enfabrica’s one hundred twenty-five million dollar Series B. Although the startup raised another one hundred fifteen million dollars in November, Nvidia didn’t participate in the round.
Reka AI: In July, an AI research lab Reka raised one hundred ten million dollars in a round that included Snowflake and Nvidia. The deal tripled the startup’s valuation to over one billion dollars, according to Bloomberg.
This post was first published in January 2025.