Nvidia has perhaps benefited most noticeably from the AI boom. Its income, earnings, and liquid assets have expanded dramatically following the launch of ChatGPT more than two years prior, along with the numerous rival generative AI offerings that have appeared since. Its share value has risen sharply, giving it a market capitalization of $4.5 trillion.
The world’s foremost manufacturer of high-performance GPUs has leveraged its growing wealth to greatly expand its investments in startups, especially those focused on AI.
Nvidia has been an investor in 50 venture capital transactions so far in 2025, already exceeding the 48 transactions the company concluded in all of 2024, according to PitchBook data. Keep in mind that these investments do not include those made by NVentures, its official corporate VC fund, which also considerably accelerated its rate of investment over that time. (According to PitchBook, NVentures participated in 21 deals this year as opposed to just one in 2022.)
Nvidia has said that its corporate investing aims to broaden the AI ecosystem by supporting startups it believes are “market makers and game changers.”
The following is a listing of startups that have raised rounds larger than $100 million since 2023 and in which Nvidia is mentioned as a participant; the list is arranged from largest to smallest round size.
This list demonstrates the extent to which Nvidia has spread its reach throughout the tech sector, going beyond just providing its products.
The billion-dollar-round club
OpenAI: Nvidia supported the ChatGPT creator for the first time in October 2024, reportedly contributing $100 million as part of a massive $6.6 billion round that valued the company at $157 billion. Compared to OpenAI’s other backers, notably Thrive, whose investment totaled $1.3 billion according to the New York Times, the chipmaker’s investment was modest. Even though PitchBook data suggests Nvidia didn’t take part in OpenAI’s $40 billion fundraising round that ended in March, the chipmaker revealed in September that it would invest up to $100 billion in the business over time, organized as a strategic alliance to build enormous AI infrastructure.
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xAI: OpenAI reportedly tried to discourage its investors from investing in rivals in 2024. However, Nvidia nonetheless took part in Elon Musk’s xAI’s $6 billion round last December. According to Bloomberg, Nvidia will also invest up to $2 billion in the equity portion of xAI’s intended $20 billion fundraising round, in a transaction designed to assist xAI in acquiring more Nvidia hardware.
Mistral AI: When the French-based large language model developer raised a €1.7 billion (about $2 billion) Series C in September at a €11.7 billion ($13.5 billion) post-money valuation, Nvidia made its third investment in Mistral.
Reflection AI: Nvidia spearheaded a $2 billion funding round for Reflection AI in October, a one-year-old startup valued at $8 billion. Reflection AI aims to become a US-based rival to DeepSeek of China, whose open-source large language model is a more affordable substitute for proprietary models from businesses like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Thinking Machines Lab: Among a large group of investors, Nvidia supported Mira Murati, the former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, in her $2 billion seed round for Thinking Machines Lab. The funding, formally announced in July, gave the new AI startup a $12 billion valuation.
Inflection: One of Nvidia’s initial significant AI investments also produced one of the more peculiar (but increasingly typical) results. Nvidia was among the main investors in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round in June 2023; Mustafa Suleyman, the renowned founder of DeepMind, co-founded the company. Microsoft hired Inflection’s founders less than a year later, paying $620 million for a non-exclusive technology license, which left the company with a much smaller workforce and a less defined future.
Nscale: Nvidia took part in Nscale’s $433 million SAFE funding in October, following the startup’s $1.1 billion round in September. This is a transaction that guarantees investors future equity. After spinning out of Australian cryptocurrency mining company Akorn Energy in 2023, Nscale is constructing data centers in the United Kingdom and Norway for OpenAI’s Stargate project.
Wayve: Nvidia participated in a $1.05 billion round for the UK-based startup in May 2024; the company is developing a self-learning system for autonomous driving. In September, the startup informed TechCrunch that Nvidia is anticipated to invest an additional $500 million in Wayve. Its vehicles are being tested by Wayve in the United Kingdom and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Figure AI: Nvidia participated in Figure AI’s Series C fundraising round of over $1 billion in September, valuing the humanoid robotics startup at $39 billion. When the company raised a $675 million Series B round at a $2.6 billion valuation in February 2024, the chipmaker initially made an investment in Figure.
Scale AI: Together with other tech titans Amazon and Meta, Nvidia joined Accel in May 2024 to invest $1 billion in Scale AI, a business that offers data-labeling services to organizations for AI model training. The round gave the San Francisco-based business a valuation of about $14 billion. Meta invested $14.3 billion in June for a 49% ownership in Scale and poached CEO and co-founder Alexandr Wang, along with a number of other important Scale staff.
The many-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars club
Commonwealth Fusion: In August 2025, the chipmaker participated in the nuclear fusion-energy startup’s $863 million fundraising round. The transaction, which also featured investors like Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, gave the business a $3 billion valuation.
Crusoe: According to an SEC filing, a startup building data centers that are reportedly to be leased to Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI raised $686 million in November 2024. Founders Fund was the investment’s leader, and Nvidia was among the numerous other investors.
Cohere: The chipmaker has made investments in enterprise large language model provider Cohere across multiple funding rounds, including the $500 million Series D, which closed in August and valued Cohere at $6.8 billion. Nvidia initially supported the Toronto-based startup in 2023.
Perplexity: Nvidia first invested in Perplexity in November 2023 and has taken part in the majority of the AI search engine startup’s subsequent funding rounds, including the $500 million round that closed in December 2024. The chipmaker participated in the company’s July funding round, which gave Perplexity a valuation of $18 billion. However, Nvidia did not participate in the startup’s subsequent $200 million fundraise in September, which, according to PitchBook data, increased the company’s valuation to $20 billion.
Poolside: In October 2024, the AI coding assistant startup Poolside revealed that it had raised $500 million, led by Bain Capital Ventures. Nvidia participated in the round, which valued the AI startup at $3 billion.
Lambda: In February, AI cloud provider Lambda, which offers services for model training, raised a $480 million Series D at a reported $2.5 billion valuation. SGW and Andra Capital Lambda co-led the round, which also included Nvidia, ARK Invest, and others. A substantial portion of Lambda’s revenue comes from renting servers powered by Nvidia’s GPUs.
CoreWeave: Although CoreWeave is now a public company rather than a startup, Nvidia made an investment in the GPU-cloud provider back in April 2023, when it was still a startup. At that time, CoreWeave secured $221 million in funding. Nvidia is still a major shareholder.
Together AI: Nvidia participated in the $305 million Series B of this company in February; Together AI offers cloud-based infrastructure for building AI models. Prosperity7, a Saudi Arabian venture firm, and General Catalyst co-led the round, which valued Together AI at $3.3 billion. Nvidia first supported the business in 2023.
Firmus Technologies: In September, Firmus Technologies, a Singapore-based data center business, secured A$330 million (about $215 million USD) in funding at a A$1.85 billion ($1.2 billion USD) valuation from investors, including Nvidia. Firmus is building an energy-efficient “AI factory” in Tasmania, an Australian island state. Originally, the startup offered cooling technologies for Bitcoin mining.
Sakana AI: Nvidia invested in the Japan-based startup in September 2024; the company trains affordable generative AI models using small datasets. The startup raised a sizable Series A round of roughly $214 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
Nuro: Nvidia participated in the $203 million funding round for the self-driving delivery startup in August. The transaction valued Nuro at $6 billion, a considerable 30% decrease from its high point of $8.6 billion in 2021.
Imbue: The AI research lab that claims to be creating AI systems with the ability to reason and code raised a $200 million round in September 2023 from investors like 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 current investors Uber and Khosla Ventures. Nvidia, Volvo Group Venture Capital, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE were among the other investors.
Deals of over a $100 million
Ayar Labs: Nvidia invested in Ayar Labs’ $155 million round in December; the company develops optical interconnects to boost AI compute and power efficiency. This was the third time Nvidia had backed the startup.
Kore.ai: In December of 2023, the startup that develops enterprise-focused AI chatbots raised $150 million. FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity were among the investors who participated in the funding in addition to Nvidia.
Sandbox AQ: Nvidia, along with Google, BNP Paribas, and others, invested $150 million in Sandbox AQ in April; the company develops large quantitative models (LQMs) for handling complex numerical analysis and statistical calculations. The investment brought Sandbox AQ’s Series E round to $450 million and its valuation to $5.75 billion.
Hippocratic AI: In January, this startup, which is creating large language models for healthcare, revealed that it had raised a $141 million Series B at a $1.64 billion valuation, led by Kleiner Perkins. Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and other returning investors joined Nvidia in the round. The business asserts that its AI solutions are capable of handling non-diagnostic patient-facing duties like pre-operating procedures, remote patient monitoring, and appointment preparation.
Weka: Nvidia made an investment in a $140 million round for Weka, an AI-native data management platform, in May 2024. The round gave the Silicon Valley company a $1.6 billion valuation.
Runway: According to PitchBook data, Nvidia took part in Runway’s $308 million round in April, which was headed by General Atlantic and valued the startup creating generative AI models for media production at $3.55 billion. Since 2023, the chipmaker has been an investor in the company.
Bright Machines: In June 2024, Nvidia participated in a $126 million Series C of Bright Machines, an AI-driven software and smart robotics startup.
Enfabrica: Nvidia invested in networking chips designer Enfabrica’s $125 million Series B in September 2023. Even though the startup secured an additional $115 million in November, Nvidia opted not to participate in the round.
Reka AI: In July, an AI research lab called Reka raised $110 million in a round that featured Snowflake and Nvidia. According to Bloomberg, the deal tripled the startup’s valuation to over $1 billion.
This post was first published in January 2025.
