Nvidia has capitalized on the artificial intelligence revolution more profoundly than any other company. Its financial metrics—revenue, profitability, and cash reserves—have surged dramatically since ChatGPT’s debut over three years ago, alongside the proliferation of numerous competitive generative AI services. This remarkable growth has propelled its stock price to new heights, establishing its market capitalization at an impressive $4.6 trillion.
The world’s foremost producer of high-performance GPUs has channeled its escalating financial gains into significantly boosting investments in startups, with a particular focus on the AI sector.
According to PitchBook data, Nvidia has participated in nearly 67 venture capital deals in 2025, a figure that already exceeds the 54 deals the company finalized throughout all of 2024. It’s important to note that these figures do not include investments made by its dedicated corporate VC fund, NVentures, which also significantly accelerated its investment pace during this period. (PitchBook reports that NVentures engaged in 30 deals this year, a sharp increase from just one in 2022.)
Nvidia has articulated that its corporate investing strategy aims to broaden the AI ecosystem by supporting startups it identifies as “game changers and market makers.”
Below is a compilation of startups that have secured funding rounds exceeding $100 million since 2023, with Nvidia listed as a participant. The list is organized in descending order based on the total amount raised in each round.
This compilation vividly illustrates the extensive reach and influence Nvidia has cultivated across the technology industry, extending far beyond its core product offerings.
Companies with Billion-Dollar Funding Rounds
OpenAI: Nvidia’s initial investment in the creator of ChatGPT occurred in October 2024, with reports indicating a $100 million contribution to a colossal $6.6 billion funding round that valued the company at $157 billion. While Nvidia’s investment was modest compared to other backers, such as Thrive’s reported $1.3 billion, and PitchBook data suggests Nvidia wasn’t part of OpenAI’s $40 billion round in March, the chipmaker announced in September its intention to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI over time through a strategic partnership focused on deploying massive AI infrastructure. However, Nvidia later disclosed in its quarterly filings that it could not guarantee the deal’s completion, stating, “There is no assurance that any investment will be completed on expected terms, if at all.”
Anthropic: In November 2025, Nvidia made its initial direct investment in the AI research lab, pledging up to $10 billion as part of a strategic funding round that also featured a $5 billion commitment from Microsoft. Under a “circular” spending agreement, Anthropic committed to dedicating $30 billion to Microsoft Azure compute capacity and acquiring Nvidia’s upcoming Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems.
Cursor: Nvidia executed its first strategic investment in the AI-powered code assistant in November, participating in a substantial $2.3 billion Series D round co-led by Accel and Coatue. This transaction valued Cursor at $29.3 billion, representing an almost 15-fold increase since the start of the year. While Nvidia had long been an enterprise client, this round marked its formal entry as a shareholder, alongside Google.
xAI: In 2024, despite OpenAI’s attempts to dissuade its investors from backing rivals, Nvidia joined the $6 billion funding round for Elon Musk’s xAI last December. Nvidia is also poised to invest up to $2 billion in the equity component of xAI’s projected $20 billion funding round, as reported by Bloomberg, a deal designed to facilitate xAI’s acquisition of more Nvidia hardware.
Mistral AI: Nvidia’s third investment in Mistral occurred when the French-based large language model (LLM) developer secured a €1.7 billion (approximately $2 billion) Series C round at an €11.7 billion ($13.5 billion) post-money valuation in September.
Reflection AI: In October, Nvidia was among the leading investors in Reflection AI, contributing to a $2 billion funding round that valued the one-year-old startup at $8 billion. Reflection AI aims to be a U.S.-based competitor to China’s DeepSeek, which offers open-source LLMs as a more affordable alternative to proprietary models from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Thinking Machines Lab: Nvidia was one of many investors to back former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab’s $2 billion seed round. The funding, formally announced in July, valued the nascent AI startup at $12 billion.
Inflection: One of Nvidia’s initial major AI investments resulted in a somewhat unusual, though increasingly common, outcome. In June 2023, Nvidia was a primary investor in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round. The company was co-founded by Mustafa Suleyman, a renowned DeepMind founder. Less than a year later, Microsoft acquired Inflection’s founders, paying $620 million for a non-exclusive technology license, leaving Inflection with a significantly reduced workforce and an uncertain future.
Crusoe: In October, the chipmaker participated in a $1.4 billion Series E round, which valued the AI data center developer at $10 billion. Nvidia initially supported the company in late 2024 during its Series D. Crusoe serves as a crucial infrastructure partner for the ‘Stargate’ project, constructing extensive data center campuses in Texas and Wyoming to be leased to Oracle specifically to power OpenAI’s workloads.
Nscale: Following the startup’s $1.1 billion round in September, Nvidia participated in Nscale’s $433 million SAFE funding in October. This deal secures future equity for investors. Nscale, formed in 2023 as a spin-out from Australian cryptocurrency mining company Arkon Energy, is developing data centers in the U.K. and Norway for OpenAI’s Stargate project.
Wayve: In May 2024, Nvidia participated in a $1.05 billion round for the U.K.-based startup, which focuses on developing a self-learning system for autonomous driving. Nvidia is anticipated to invest an additional $500 million in Wayve, as disclosed by the startup to TechCrunch in September. Wayve is currently conducting vehicle tests in the U.K. and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Figure AI: In September, Nvidia joined Figure AI’s Series C funding round of over $1 billion, which valued the humanoid robotics startup at $39 billion. The chipmaker first invested in Figure in February 2024 when the company secured a $675 million Series B round at a $2.6 billion valuation.
Scale AI: In May 2024, Nvidia, alongside other tech giants such as Accel, Amazon, and Meta, invested $1 billion in Scale AI, a company that provides data-labeling services for training AI models. This round valued the San Francisco-based company at nearly $14 billion. In June, Meta invested $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in Scale and subsequently hired its co-founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, along with several other key Scale employees.
The Multi-Hundred-Million Dollar Investment Circle
Commonwealth Fusion: The chipmaker participated in the nuclear fusion-energy startup’s $863 million funding round in August. This deal, which also involved investors like Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, valued the company at $3 billion.
Cohere: The chipmaker has repeatedly invested in enterprise LLM provider Cohere across various funding rounds, including the $500 million Series D, which concluded in August and valued Cohere at $6.8 billion. Nvidia first backed the Toronto-based startup in 2023.
Perplexity: Nvidia’s initial investment in Perplexity was in November 2023, and it has since participated in most of the subsequent funding rounds for the AI search engine startup, including the $500 million round that closed in December 2024. The chipmaker also joined the company’s July funding round, which valued Perplexity at $18 billion. However, Nvidia did not participate in the startup’s subsequent $200 million fundraise in September, which elevated the company’s valuation to $20 billion, according to PitchBook data.
Poolside: In October 2024, the AI coding assistant startup Poolside announced it had raised $500 million in a round led by Bain Capital Ventures. Nvidia was a participant in this round, which valued the AI startup at $3 billion.
Lambda: AI cloud provider Lambda, which offers services for model training, secured a $480 million Series D at a reported $2.5 billion valuation in February. The round was co-led by SGW and Andra Capital Lambda, with participation from Nvidia, ARK Invest, and others. A substantial portion of Lambda’s operations involves leasing servers powered by Nvidia’s GPUs.
Black Forest Labs: Nvidia participated in a $300 million Series B for the German startup behind the “Flux” image generation models in December. The round, which was co-led by Salesforce Ventures and Anjney Midha (AMP), valued the company at $3.25 billion.
CoreWeave: Although CoreWeave is now a public company, Nvidia invested in the GPU-cloud provider when it was still a startup, back in April 2023. At that time, CoreWeave raised $221 million in funding. Nvidia maintains a significant shareholder position.
Together AI: In February, Nvidia participated in the $305 million Series B of this company, which provides cloud-based infrastructure for developing AI models. The round valued Together AI at $3.3 billion and was co-led by Prosperity7, a Saudi Arabian venture firm, and General Catalyst. Nvidia first supported the company in 2023.
Firmus Technologies: In September, Firmus Technologies, the Singapore-based data center company, received AU$330 million (approximately $215 million) in funding at an AU$1.85 billion ($1.2 billion) valuation from investors, including Nvidia. Firmus is constructing an energy-efficient “AI factory” in Tasmania, an island state of Australia. The startup originally focused on providing cooling technologies for Bitcoin mining.
Uniphore: In October, Nvidia joined fellow tech giants AMD, Snowflake, and Databricks in leading a $260 million Series F round for this Business AI company. Uniphore’s multimodal platform assists enterprises in automating complex workflows and deploying “AI agents” across customer service, sales, and marketing.
Sakana AI: In September 2024, Nvidia invested in the Japan-based startup, which specializes in training cost-effective generative AI models using compact datasets. The startup successfully raised a significant Series A round of approximately $214 million, achieving a valuation of $1.5 billion. Sakana later secured another $135 million at a $2.65 billion valuation in November, though Nvidia did not participate in that particular round.
Nuro: In August, Nvidia participated in a $203 million funding round for the self-driving delivery startup. This deal valued Nuro at $6 billion, representing a significant 30% decrease from its peak valuation of $8.6 billion in 2021.
Imbue: The AI research lab, which aims to develop AI systems capable of robust reasoning and coding, raised a $200 million round in September 2023 from investors including Nvidia, Astera Institute, and former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt.
Waabi: In June 2024, the autonomous trucking startup secured a $200 million Series B round, co-led by existing investors Uber and Khosla Ventures. Other participants included Nvidia, Volvo Group Venture Capital, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Investments Exceeding $100 Million
Ayar Labs: In December 2024, Nvidia invested in the $155 million round of Ayar Labs, a company dedicated to developing optical interconnects to enhance AI compute and power efficiency. This marked Nvidia’s third time backing the startup.
Kore.ai: The startup, which develops enterprise-focused AI chatbots, raised $150 million in December 2023. Investors participating in the funding included Nvidia, FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity.
Sandbox AQ: In April, Nvidia, alongside Google, BNP Paribas, and other investors, contributed $150 million to Sandbox AQ, a startup focused on developing large quantitative models (LQMs) for intricate numerical analysis and statistical computations. This investment augmented Sandbox AQ’s Series E round to $450 million and boosted the company’s valuation to $5.75 billion.
Hippocratic AI: This startup, specializing in large language models for healthcare, announced in January that it secured a $141 million Series B at a valuation of $1.64 billion, led by Kleiner Perkins. Nvidia participated in the round, along with returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and others. The company asserts that its AI solutions can manage non-diagnostic, patient-facing tasks such as pre-operative procedures, remote patient monitoring, and appointment preparation. Hippocratic subsequently raised another $126 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion in November, though Nvidia did not participate in that round.
Weka: In May 2024, Nvidia invested in a $140 million round for AI-native data management platform Weka. This round valued the Silicon Valley company at $1.6 billion.
Runway: In April, Nvidia participated in Runway’s $308 million round, which was led by General Atlantic and valued the startup, which develops generative AI models for media production, at $3.55 billion, according to PitchBook data. The chipmaker has been an investor in the company since 2023.
Bright Machines: In June 2024, Nvidia participated in a $126 million Series C round for Bright Machines, a smart robotics and AI-driven software startup.
Enfabrica: In September 2023, Nvidia invested in networking chip designer Enfabrica’s $125 million Series B. The startup later raised another $115 million in November 2024, but Nvidia did not participate in that subsequent round. In September, Nvidia reportedly spent over $900 million to recruit Enfabrica’s CEO and staff while licensing its technology, structuring the deal as an “acquihire.”
Reka AI: In July, AI research lab Reka secured $110 million in a round that included Snowflake and Nvidia. This deal tripled the startup’s valuation to over $1 billion, according to Bloomberg.
This article was initially published in January 2025.