Nvidia’s AI empire: A look at its top startup investments

No institution has capitalized connected the AI gyration much dramatically than Nvidia. Its revenue, profitability, and currency reserves person skyrocketed since the instauration of ChatGPT implicit 2 years agone — and the galore competitory generative AI services that person launched since. Its banal terms has soared, making it a $4.5 trillion marketplace headdress company. 

The world’s starring high-performance GPU shaper has utilized its ballooning fortunes to importantly summation investments successful startups, particularly successful AI. 

Nvidia has participated successful 50 task superior deals so acold successful 2025, already surpassing the 48 deals the institution completed successful each of 2024, according to PitchBook data. Note that these investments exclude those made by its ceremonial firm VC fund, NVentures, which besides importantly accrued its concern gait implicit that period. (PitchBook says NVentures engaged successful 21 deals this year, compared to conscionable 1 successful 2022.)  

Nvidia has stated that the extremity of its firm investing is to grow the AI ecosystem by backing startups it considers to beryllium “game changers and marketplace makers.”  

Below is simply a database of startups that raised rounds exceeding $100 cardinal since 2023 wherever Nvidia is simply a named participant, organized from the highest to lowest magnitude raised successful the round. 

This database shows conscionable however acold and wide Nvidia has dispersed its tentacles successful the tech industry, beyond supplying its products. 

The billion-dollar-round club

OpenAI: Nvidia backed the ChatGPT shaper for the archetypal clip successful October 2024, reportedly penning a $100 cardinal check arsenic portion of a colossal $6.6 cardinal circular that valued the institution astatine $157 billion. The chipmaker’s concern was dwarfed by OpenAI’s different backers, notably Thrive, which according to the New York Times invested $1.3 billion. While PitchBook information indicates Nvidia did not enactment successful OpenAI’s $40 cardinal backing circular that closed successful March, the chipmaker announced successful September that it would put up to $100 billion in the institution implicit time, structured arsenic a strategical concern to deploy monolithic AI infrastructure. 

xAI: In 2024, OpenAI tried to transportation its investors not to invest successful immoderate of its rivals. But Nvidia participated successful the $6 cardinal circular of Elon Musk’s xAI past December anyway. Nvidia volition besides put up to $2 billion in the equity information of xAI’s planned $20 cardinal backing round, Bloomberg reported, a woody structured to assistance xAI acquisition much Nvidia gear. 

Mistral AI: Nvidia invested successful Mistral for the 3rd clip erstwhile the French-based ample connection exemplary developer raised €1.7 cardinal (about $2 billion) Series C astatine a €11.7billion ($13.5 billion) post-money valuation in September.   

Reflection AI: In October, Nvidia led a $2 cardinal backing round for Reflection AI, a one-year-old startup, valuing the institution astatine $8 billion. Reflection AI is positioning itself arsenic a US-based rival to Chinese DeepSeek, whose open-source ample connection exemplary offers a less-expensive alternate to closed-source models from companies specified arsenic OpenAI and Anthropic. 

Thinking Machines Lab: Nvidia was among a agelong database of investors who backed erstwhile OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab’s $2 cardinal seed round. The funding, which was formally announced successful July, valued the caller AI startup astatine $12 billion. 

Inflection: One of Nvidia’s archetypal important AI investments besides had 1 of the much antithetic (but progressively common) outcomes. In June 2023, Nvidia was 1 of respective pb investors successful Inflection’s $1.3 billion round, a institution co-founded by Mustafa Suleyman, the famed laminitis of DeepMind. Less than a twelvemonth later, Microsoft hired Inflection’s founders, paying $620 million for a non-exclusive exertion license, leaving the institution with a importantly diminished workforce and a little defined future. 

Nscale: After the startup’s $1.1 cardinal round in September, Nvidia participated successful Nscale’s $433 cardinal SAFE funding successful October. That’s a woody that secures aboriginal equity for investors. Nscale, which formed successful 2023 after spinning retired of Australian cryptocurrency mining institution Akorn Energy, is gathering information centers successful the UK and Norway for OpenAI’s Stargate project. 

Wayve: In May 2024, Nvidia participated successful a $1.05 cardinal round for the U.K.-based startup, which is processing a self-learning strategy for autonomous driving. Nvidia is expected to put an dditional $500 million in Wayve, the startup told TechCrunch successful September. Wayve is investigating its vehicles successful the U.K. and the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Figure AI: In September, Nvidia participated successful the Figure AI’s Series C backing circular of over $1 billion, which valued the humanoid robotics startup astatine $39 billion. The chipmaker archetypal invested successful Figure successful February 2024 erstwhile the institution raised a $675 million Series B circular astatine a $2.6 cardinal valuation. 

Scale AI: In May 2024, Nvidia joined Accel and different tech giants Amazon and Meta to invest $1 billion in Scale AI, which provides data-labeling services to companies for grooming AI models. The circular valued the San Francisco-based institution astatine astir $14 billion. In June, Meta invested $14.3 billion for a 49% involvement of Scale, and hired distant the company’s co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang, arsenic good arsenic respective different cardinal Scale employees. 

The many-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars club

Commonwealth Fusion: The chipmaker participated successful the atomic fusion-energy startup’s  $863 cardinal backing round in August 2025. The deal, which besides included investors similar Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, valued the institution astatine $3 billion. 

Crusoe: A startup gathering information centers reportedly to beryllium leased to Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI raised $686 million in November 2024, according to an SEC filing. The concern was led by Founders Fund, and the agelong database of different investors included Nvidia. 

Cohere: The chipmaker has invested successful endeavor ample connection exemplary supplier Cohere crossed aggregate backing rounds, including the $500 cardinal Series D, which closed successful August, valuing Cohere astatine $6.8 billion. Nvidia archetypal backed the Toronto-based startup successful 2023. 

Perplexity: Nvidia archetypal invested successful Perplexity successful November 2023 and has participated successful astir of the consequent backing rounds of the AI hunt motor startup, including the $500 million round closed successful December 2024. The chipmaker participated successful the company’s July backing round, which valued Perplexity astatine $18 billion. However, Nvidia did not articulation the startup’s subsequent $200 cardinal fundraise in September, which boosted the company’s valuation to $20 billion, according to PitchBook data. 

Poolside: In October 2024, the AI coding adjunct startup Poolside announced it raised $500 million led by Bain Capital Ventures. Nvidia participated successful the round, which valued the AI startup astatine $3 billion. 

Lambda: AI unreality supplier Lambda, which provides services for exemplary training, raised a $480 cardinal Series D at a reported $2.5 cardinal valuation in February. The circular was co-led by SGW and Andra Capital Lambda, and joined by Nvidia, ARK Invest, and others. A important portion of Lambda’s concern involves renting servers powered by Nvidia’s GPUs. 

CoreWeave: Although CoreWeave is nary longer a startup, but a nationalist company, Nvidia invested successful GPU-cloud provider when it was inactive one, backmost successful April 2023. That’s erstwhile CoreWeave raised $221 million in funding. Nvidia remains a important shareholder. 

Together AI: In February, Nvidia participated successful the $305 cardinal Series B of this company, which offers cloud-based infrastructure for gathering AI models. The circular valued Together AI astatine $3.3 cardinal and was co-led by Prosperity7, a Saudi Arabian task firm, and General Catalyst. Nvidia backed the company for the archetypal time in 2023.  

Firmus Technologies: In September, Firmus Technologies, the Singapore-based information halfway company, received A$330 million (approximately $215 cardinal USD) successful backing astatine a A$1.85 billion ($1.2 cardinal USD) valuation from investors, including Nvidia. Firmus is processing an energy-efficient ‘AI factory’ successful Tasmania, an land authorities of Australia. The startup primitively 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 utilizing tiny datasets. The startup raised a massive Series A circular of astir $214 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion. 

Nuro: In August, Nvidia participated successful the $203 million funding circular for the self-driving startup focused connected delivery. The woody valued Nuro astatine $6 billion, a important 30% driblet from its highest astatine $8.6 cardinal valuation successful 2021. 

Imbue: The AI probe laboratory that claims to beryllium processing AI systems that tin crushed and codification raised a $200 cardinal round successful September 2023 from investors, including Nvidia, Astera Institute, and erstwhile Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt. 

Waabi: In June 2024, the autonomous trucking startup raised a $200 cardinal 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 implicit a $100 million

Ayar Labs: In December, Nvidia invested successful the $155 cardinal round of Ayar Labs, a company processing optical interconnects to amended AI compute and powerfulness efficiency. This was the 3rd clip Nvidia backed the startup. 

Kore.ai: The startup processing enterprise-focused AI chatbots raised $150 million in December of 2023. In summation to Nvidia, investors participating successful the backing included FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity. 

Sandbox AQ: In April, Nvidia, alongside Google, BNP Paribas, and others, invested $150 million in Sandbox AQ, a startup processing ample quantitative models (LQMs) for handling analyzable numerical investigation and statistical calculations. The concern accrued Sandbox AQ’s Series E circular to $450 cardinal and the company’s valuation to $5.75 billion. 

Hippocratic AI: This startup, which is processing ample connection models for healthcare, announced successful January that it raised a $141 cardinal Series B at a valuation of $1.64 cardinal led by Kleiner Perkins. Nvidia participated successful the round, on with returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and others. The institution claims that its AI solutions tin grip non-diagnostic patient-facing tasks specified arsenic pre-operating procedures, distant diligent monitoring, and assignment preparation. 

Weka: In May 2024, Nvidia invested successful a $140 million round for AI-native information absorption level Weka. The circular valued the Silicon Valley institution astatine $1.6 billion. 

Runway: In April, Nvidia participated successful Runway’s $308 cardinal round, which was led by General Atlantic and valued the startup processing generative AI models for media production at $3.55 billion, according to PitchBook data. The chipmaker has been an capitalist in since 2023.  

Bright Machines: In June 2024, Nvidia participated successful a $126 cardinal Series C of Bright Machines, a astute robotics and AI-driven bundle startup. 

Enfabrica: In September 2023, Nvidia invested successful networking chips decorator Enfabrica’s $125 cardinal Series B. Although the startup raised different $115 cardinal successful November, Nvidia didn’t enactment successful the round. 

Reka AI: In July, an AI probe laboratory Reka, raised $110 million in a circular that included Snowflake and Nvidia. The woody tripled the startup’s valuation to over $1 billion, according to Bloomberg.