While AI fatigue is real for some, venture capitalists are clearly not tired of the space.
According to the latest data from Crunchbase, over $35.5 billion was invested in AI startups worldwide in the first half of 2024 alone. Five of the six venture capital rounds of over $1 billion raised in the first half of 2024 were by AI companies.
Many other AI startups have also successfully raised mega rounds of over $100 million. U.S. startups raised two $1 billion rounds in the first half of the year, accounting for nearly two-thirds (64%) of mega rounds.
Here are the US-based AI companies that have raised over $100 million so far in 2024:
July
Hebbia, $130M: Andreessen Horowitz led Hebbia's round, which closed on July 8. The startup, which uses generative AI to search large documents, also raised funding from Peter Thiel, Index Ventures, and Google Ventures, giving it a $700 million valuation. Skild AI, $300M: Pittsburgh-based Skild AI announced a $300 million Series A round on July 9, valuing the company at $1.5 billion. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, and Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions, with participation from Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, and others. Skild AI develops technology to power robots.
June
Bright Machines, $106M: A $106 million Series C round in Bright Machines was led by BlackRock and closed on June 25 with participation from Nvidia, Microsoft, Eclipse Ventures and others. The startup develops both smart robots and AI-driven software, and has raised more than $437 million in total funding. Etched.ai, $120M: San Francisco-based Etched.ai raised a $120 million Series A round on June 25. The round was led by Primary Venture Partners and Positive Sum, with participation from Two Sigma Ventures, Peter Thiel, Kyle Vogt and others. Etched.ai is working on developing chips that can run AI models faster and cheaper than GPUs. EvolutionaryScale, $142M: New York-based EvolutionaryScale develops biological AI models for treatment design. The company raised $142 million in a seed round that closed on June 25. The round was led by Lux Capital, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and angel investor and former Y Combinator AI head Daniel Gross. The company was founded in 2023. AKASA, $120 million: Akasa, a healthcare revenue cycle automation platform, announced a $120 million round on June 18. The San Francisco-based startup has raised $205 million in total funding, with previous rounds coming from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Costanoa Ventures, and Bond. AlphaSense, $650 million: New York-based AlphaSense raised $650 million in a Series F round announced on June 11. AlphaSense is a market intelligence platform founded in 2008. The company has raised more than $1.4 billion in venture funding and was most recently valued at $4 billion.
May
xAI, $6 billion: Elon Musk's xAI raised a staggering $6 billion in Series B funding on May 31 from investors including Sequoia, Valor Equity Partners, and Fidelity. The startup is building an AI platform to “accelerate human scientific discovery” and is valued at an equally staggering $24 billion. Scale AI, $1 billion: Scale AI, a startup that provides data labeling services to businesses for training AI models, raised $1 billion in May. The Series F round was led by Accel, with participation from Tiger Global, Spark Capital, Amazon, and others. San Francisco-based Scale AI has raised more than $1.6 billion in total to date and is currently valued at nearly $14 billion. Suno, $125 million: Suno, an AI music creation platform, raised $125 million in a Series B round that closed on May 21. The round valued the Cambridge, Massachusetts startup at $500 million. Investors in the round included former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and former Y Combinator AI head Daniel Gross, along with Founder Collective, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Matrix. Weka, $140M: Silicon Valley-based Weka, which develops an AI-native data platform, raised $140 million in a Series E round that closed on May 13. The funding was led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures, Nvidia, Hitachi Ventures, and others. The startup was valued at $1.6 billion. CoreWeave, $1.1B: New Jersey-based GPU infrastructure provider CoreWeave raised $1.1 billion in a Series C round that closed on May 1. Coatue led the round, with participation from Fidelity, Altimeter Capital, Magnetar Capital, and others. CoreWeave was founded in 2017 and is valued at $19 billion.
April
Blaize, $106 million: AI computing platform company Blaize raised $106 million in a Series D round announced on April 29. Investors participating in the round included Temasek, Franklin Templeton, and Bess Ventures. The company was founded in 2010 and has raised $242 million. Augment, $227 million: Palo Alto-based Augment raised $227 million for the AI coding assistance startup. The startup's Series B round was announced on April 24. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures participated in the round, valuing the startup just shy of $1 billion. Cognition, $175 million: Led by Founders Fund, applied AI lab startup Cognition raised a $175 million funding round that closed on April 24. The round comes about a month after the company raised a $21 million Series A round in March from a number of investors, including Founders Fund, Ramp co-founder Eric Glyman, Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, and DoorDash co-founder Tony Xu. The company was founded in November 2023 and is already valued at nearly $2 billion. Xaira Therapeutics, $1 billion: San Francisco-based AI drug discovery startup Xaira Therapeutics has raised a $1 billion Series A round. The round, announced on April 23, was led by Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners. Sequoia, NEA, Lux Capital, and a number of other firms also participated in the round. Cyera, $300 million: Coatue led a $300 million Series C round into Cyera, an AI-powered data security platform, which closed on April 9. The round values the New York-based startup at $1.4 billion. Sequoia, Redpoint, Accel and others also participated in the round.
march
Celestial AI, $175M: Founded in 2020, Celestial AI is building an optical interconnect technology platform for data center and AI solutions. It raised $175M in a Series C round on March 27, bringing its total funding to $338M. The round was led by Thomas Tull's US Innovative Technology Fund, with participation from M Ventures, Temasek, Taiche Partners and others. FundGuard, $100M: FundGuard, a New York-based startup offering an AI-powered investment accounting operating system, raised $100M at a $400M valuation. The Series C round closed on March 25 and was led by Key1 Capital, with participation from Hamilton Lane, Bloomberg Capital, Team8 and others. Together AI, $106M: Salesforce Ventures led Together AI's $106M Series A round, valuing the company at $1.2B. Together AI is a platform designed to help create infrastructure and open-source generative AI for developing AI models. NEA, Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital and others also participated in the round. The round was announced on March 13. Zephyr AI, $111 million: Fairfax Station, Virginia-based Zephyr AI raised $111 million in a Series A round that closed on March 13. Revolution Growth, Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, EPIQ Capital Group and investor Jeff Skoll all participated in the round. Founded in 2020, the startup uses AI to power drug discovery and precision medicine. It has raised a total of $129.5 million to date.
February
Glean, $203 million: AI-driven enterprise search startup Glean raised $203 million in a round on Feb. 27, valuing the company at $2.4 billion. The Series D round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Sequoia, General Catalyst, Databricks Ventures, and others. The Silicon Valley-based startup has raised more than $350 million in venture funding, and founder Arvind Jain was recently interviewed on TechCrunch's Found podcast. Figure, $675 million: Silicon Valley-based AI robotics startup Figure raised $675 million in a Series B round that closed on Feb. 24. The round values the company at nearly $2.7 billion. Participants in the round included Nvidia, OpenAI, Microsoft, and others. The startup was founded in 2022 and has raised more than $850 million. Abridge, $150 million: Abridge, a Pittsburgh-based company that uses AI to transcribe medical conversations, raised $150 million in a Series C round that closed on Feb. 23. The round was led by Redpoint and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from USV, IVP, Spark Capital, and others. The round values the six-year-old company at $850 million. Recogni, $102 million: The company, which designs high-powered but low-power AI interface solutions, raised $102 million in a Series C round on Feb. 20. The round was led by GreatPoint Ventures and Celesta Capital. Pledge Ventures, Mayfield, and DNS Capital also participated in the round. Lambda, $320 million: San Francisco-based deep learning infrastructure company Lambda raised $320 million in a Series C round announced on Feb. 15. The round was led by Thomas Tull's US Innovative Technology Fund, with participation from Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, T. Rowe Price, and others. Lambda has raised more than $900 million in venture capital and was last valued at $1.5 billion. Magic, $117 Million: AI coding startup Magic raised $117 million in a Series B round that closed on Feb. 12. The round was led by NFDG Ventures, with participation from Capital G and angel investor Elad Gil. The San Francisco-based company has raised more than $145 million in total funding.
January
Kore.ai, $150 Million: Kore.ai, a startup developing conversational AI for enterprises, raised $150 million in a Series D round announced on Jan. 30. The Orlando, Florida-based company's round was led by FTV Capital, with participation from Nvidia, Vistara Growth and NextEquity Partners. Kore.ai was founded in 2013 and has raised more than $223 million in funding.
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