Nvidia has emerged as the foremost beneficiary of the AI revolution. Since the debut of ChatGPT over three years ago and the subsequent proliferation of competitive generative AI services, its revenue, profitability, and cash reserves have surged dramatically. This success has propelled its stock price, establishing it as a company with a $4.6 trillion market capitalization.
The world’s leading manufacturer of high-performance GPUs has leveraged its expanding financial resources to significantly boost investments in startups, particularly those focused on AI.
According to PitchBook data, Nvidia has participated in nearly 67 venture capital deals in 2025, already exceeding the 54 deals completed throughout all of 2024. These figures do not include investments made by its dedicated corporate VC fund, NVentures, which also substantially accelerated its investment pace during the same period. (PitchBook notes NVentures was involved in 30 deals this year, a sharp increase from just one in 2022.)
Nvidia has publicly stated that its corporate investing aims to expand the AI ecosystem by supporting startups it identifies as “game changers and market makers.”
Presented 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 ordered from the highest to the lowest amount raised in each round.
This list clearly illustrates the extensive reach and diversification of Nvidia’s influence across the tech industry, extending beyond its core product offerings.
The Billion-Dollar Round Club
OpenAI: Nvidia’s initial investment in the ChatGPT creator occurred in October 2024, reportedly contributing a $100 million check to a monumental $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 did not partake in OpenAI’s $40 billion funding 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 extensive 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 first direct investment in the AI research lab, committing up to $10 billion as part of a strategic round that included a $5 billion investment from Microsoft. Under a “circular” spending arrangement, Anthropic pledged to spend $30 billion on Microsoft Azure compute capacity and acquire Nvidia’s forthcoming Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems.
Cursor: Nvidia initiated its 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 deal propelled Cursor’s valuation to $29.3 billion, a nearly 15-fold increase since the beginning of the year. Although Nvidia had long been an enterprise customer, this round marked its official entry as a shareholder, alongside Google.
xAI: In 2024, despite OpenAI’s efforts to dissuade its investors from supporting rivals, Nvidia participated in Elon Musk’s xAI’s $6 billion funding round last December. Nvidia is also set to invest up to $2 billion in the equity portion of xAI’s planned $20 billion funding round, as reported by Bloomberg. This deal is structured to facilitate xAI’s procurement of more Nvidia hardware.
Mistral AI: Nvidia made its third investment in Mistral when the France-based large language model (LLM) developer raised a €1.7 billion (approximately $2 billion) Series C round in September, achieving a €11.7 billion ($13.5 billion) post-money valuation.
Reflection AI: In October, Nvidia was among the most significant 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 position itself as a U.S.-based competitor to China’s DeepSeek, offering an open-source LLM that serves as a less expensive alternative to proprietary models from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Thinking Machines Lab: Nvidia was one of numerous investors to back former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab’s $2 billion seed round. This funding, formally announced in July, valued the nascent AI startup at $12 billion.
Inflection: One of Nvidia’s earliest substantial AI investments experienced one of the more unusual, though increasingly common, outcomes. In June 2023, Nvidia was a lead investor in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round. The company was co-founded by Mustafa Suleyman, the renowned DeepMind founder. Less than a year later, Microsoft hired Inflection’s founders, paying $620 million for a non-exclusive technology license. This left Inflection with a significantly reduced workforce and an uncertain future.
Crusoe: In October, the chipmaker participated in a $1.4 billion Series E round that valued the AI data center developer at $10 billion. Nvidia first supported the company in late 2024 during its Series D. Crusoe is a crucial infrastructure partner for the ‘Stargate’ project, responsible for constructing vast 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, which secures future equity for investors. Nscale, formed in 2023 after spinning out of 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 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 of over $1 billion, which valued the humanoid robotics startup at $39 billion. The chipmaker initially invested in Figure in February 2024 when the company raised a $675 million Series B round at a $2.6 billion valuation.
Scale AI: In May 2024, Nvidia joined Accel and other tech giants Amazon and Meta to invest $1 billion in Scale AI, which offers 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 recruited the company’s co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang, along with 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 $863 million funding round in August. This deal, which also included investors like Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, valued the company at $3 billion.
Cohere: The chipmaker has invested in enterprise LLM provider Cohere across multiple funding rounds, including the $500 million Series D, which concluded in August, valuing Cohere at $6.8 billion. Nvidia first backed the Toronto-based startup in 2023.
Perplexity: Nvidia first invested in Perplexity in November 2023 and has participated in most subsequent funding rounds for the AI search engine startup, including the $500 million round closed in December 2024. The chipmaker was involved in the company’s July funding round, which valued Perplexity at $18 billion. However, Nvidia did not join the startup’s subsequent $200 million fundraise in September, which boosted 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 led by Bain Capital Ventures. Nvidia participated in this round, which valued the AI startup at $3 billion.
Lambda: AI cloud provider Lambda, which offers services for model training, raised a $480 million Series D at a reported $2.5 billion valuation in February. This round was co-led by SGW and Andra Capital Lambda, with participation from Nvidia, ARK Invest, and others. A significant portion of Lambda’s business involves renting 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, 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 remains a significant shareholder.
Together AI: In February, Nvidia participated in the $305 million Series B of this company, which provides cloud-based infrastructure for building 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 initially backed the company for the first time in 2023.
Firmus Technologies: In September, Firmus Technologies, the Singapore-based data center company, secured an 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 offered cooling technologies for Bitcoin mining.
Uniphore: In October, Nvidia joined fellow tech giants AMD, Snowflake, and Databricks to lead a $260 million Series F round into 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 focuses on training low-cost generative AI models using small datasets. The startup raised a substantial Series A round of about $214 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion. Sakana raised an additional $135 million at a $2.65 billion valuation in November, but Nvidia did not participate in that 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 raised a $200 million 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 $100 Million
Ayar Labs: In December 2024, Nvidia invested in the $155 million round of Ayar Labs, a company developing optical interconnects to enhance AI compute and power efficiency. This marked Nvidia’s third investment in the startup.
Kore.ai: The startup specializing in enterprise-focused AI chatbots raised $150 million in December 2023. In addition to Nvidia, investors participating in the funding included FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity.
Sandbox AQ: In April, Nvidia, along with Google, BNP Paribas, and others, invested $150 million in Sandbox AQ, a startup that develops large quantitative models (LQMs) for complex numerical analysis and statistical calculations. This investment increased Sandbox AQ’s Series E round to $450 million and boosted the company’s valuation to $5.75 billion.
Hippocratic AI: This startup, dedicated to developing large language models for healthcare, announced in January that it raised a $141 million Series B at a valuation of $1.64 billion, led by Kleiner Perkins. Nvidia participated in the round, alongside 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 raised an additional $126 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion in November, but 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. The 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, known for developing 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 chips designer Enfabrica’s $125 million Series B. The startup raised an additional $115 million in November 2024, but Nvidia did not participate in that round. In September, Nvidia reportedly spent over $900 million to hire Enfabrica’s CEO and staff while licensing its technology, in a deal structured 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.