Nvidia: The Unseen Architect of the AI Revolution
In the dazzling, fast-paced world of artificial intelligence, one company has emerged not just as a participant, but as a dominant force shaping the very landscape: Nvidia. While many of us associate them with the powerful GPUs that fuel our gaming rigs and complex scientific computations, Nvidia’s influence has transcended hardware. Since the seismic arrival of ChatGPT and the subsequent explosion of generative AI services over the past three years, Nvidia has experienced an unprecedented surge in revenue, profitability, and cash reserves. This financial windfall hasn’t just lined their coffers; it’s been strategically deployed to build a vast empire of AI innovation, by investing in the very startups that are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
The numbers are staggering. Nvidia’s stock price has experienced an astronomical rise, catapulting the company to a mind-boggling market capitalization of $4.6 trillion. This immense financial muscle has been channeled into a deliberate and aggressive venture capital strategy. According to data from PitchBook, Nvidia participated in nearly 67 venture capital deals in 2025 alone – a significant leap from the 54 deals it closed in the entirety of 2024. This figure doesn’t even include the substantial investments made by its formal corporate venture arm, NVentures. NVentures has also dramatically accelerated its investment pace, engaging in 30 deals in 2025, a stark contrast to just one deal in 2022. Nvidia’s stated objective is clear: to cultivate and expand the AI ecosystem by identifying and backing startups it believes are true ‘game changers and market makers.’
Beyond the Chip: Nvidia’s Strategic Investments in AI’s Frontrunners
This expansionist strategy has led Nvidia to spread its influence far and wide across the tech industry, extending well beyond its core product offerings. By examining the list of startups that have secured funding rounds exceeding $100 million since 2023, with Nvidia listed as a participant, we can clearly see the breadth and depth of their involvement. These investments paint a vivid picture of Nvidia’s commitment to nurturing the future of AI.
The Billion-Dollar Club: Backing the AI Giants
Nvidia’s presence is particularly prominent among the AI behemoths securing massive funding rounds. Their participation signals not just financial support, but often a deep strategic alignment.
OpenAI: The company behind the revolutionary ChatGPT first caught Nvidia’s eye in October 2024. Reports suggest Nvidia contributed a $100 million check as part of a colossal $6.6 billion funding round that valued OpenAI at an impressive $157 billion. While Nvidia’s investment was outshone by other major backers like Thrive, which reportedly invested $1.3 billion, this marked a significant step. Although PitchBook data indicates Nvidia wasn’t part of OpenAI’s earlier $40 billion round, a September announcement revealed Nvidia’s intention to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI over time, structured as a strategic partnership to bolster massive AI infrastructure. However, Nvidia later cautioned in its quarterly filings that the completion of these investments is not guaranteed.
Anthropic: In November 2025, Nvidia made its first direct investment in this prominent AI lab, pledging up to $10 billion. This was part of a strategic round that also saw Microsoft contribute a $5 billion check. As part of a reciprocal agreement, Anthropic committed to significant spending on Microsoft Azure compute capacity and also agreed to purchase Nvidia’s future Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems, showcasing a powerful synergy.
Cursor: This AI-powered code assistant has seen its valuation skyrocket. In November, Nvidia participated in its massive $2.3 billion Series D round, co-led by Accel and Coatue. This deal valued Cursor at $29.3 billion, an astonishing nearly 15-fold increase since the start of the year. While Nvidia had been an enterprise customer, this investment officially marked its entry as a shareholder, alongside other tech giants like Google.
xAI: Despite OpenAI’s attempts to discourage its investors from backing rivals, Nvidia made a significant move in December 2024 by participating in Elon Musk’s xAI $6 billion funding round. Furthermore, Bloomberg reports that Nvidia is set to invest up to $2 billion in the equity portion of xAI’s planned $20 billion funding round, a deal explicitly structured to facilitate xAI’s acquisition of more Nvidia hardware.
Mistral AI: Nvidia has a history of supporting this French large language model (LLM) developer. In September, Nvidia participated in Mistral AI’s Series C round, where the company raised €1.7 billion (approximately $2 billion) at a post-money valuation of €11.7 billion ($13.5 billion), marking Nvidia’s third investment in the company.
Reflection AI: In October, Nvidia was a key investor in Reflection AI, contributing to a $2 billion funding round that valued the one-year-old startup at $8 billion. Reflection AI is positioning itself as a U.S.-based competitor to Chinese firm DeepSeek, aiming to offer open-source LLMs as a more affordable alternative to proprietary models from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Thinking Machines Lab: Nvidia was among a distinguished group of investors backing Mira Murati’s (former OpenAI CTO) new AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab. The $2 billion seed round, announced in July, valued the nascent company at $12 billion.
Inflection: This investment by Nvidia had a noteworthy, though unusual, outcome. In June 2023, Nvidia was a lead investor in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round. This company was co-founded by Mustafa Suleyman, the renowned founder of DeepMind. Less than a year later, Microsoft hired Inflection’s founders, reportedly paying $620 million for a non-exclusive technology license, which significantly reshaped Inflection’s workforce and future trajectory.
Crusoe: In October, Nvidia participated in a $1.4 billion Series E round for this AI data center developer, valuing the company at $10 billion. Nvidia had previously backed Crusoe in late 2024 during its Series D round. Crusoe plays a crucial role as an infrastructure partner for the ambitious ‘Stargate’ project, developing vast data center campuses in Texas and Wyoming to be leased to Oracle, specifically to power OpenAI’s computational demands.
Nscale: Following its $1.1 billion round in September, Nscale secured an additional $433 million in SAFE (Secured Agreement for Future Equity) funding in October, with Nvidia participating. Nscale, established in 2023 after spinning out from Australian cryptocurrency mining company Arkon Energy, is constructing data centers in the UK and Norway to support OpenAI’s ‘Stargate’ project.
Wayve: In May 2024, Nvidia invested in a $1.05 billion round for this UK-based startup, which is pioneering self-learning systems for autonomous driving. Wayve has indicated that Nvidia is expected to invest an additional $500 million. The company is actively testing its vehicles in the UK and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Figure AI: Nvidia was a participant in Figure AI’s Series C funding round in September, which exceeded $1 billion and valued the humanoid robotics startup at $39 billion. Nvidia had 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 tech giants like Amazon and Meta, alongside Accel, to invest $1 billion in Scale AI. This company specializes in providing data-labeling services essential for training AI models. The round valued the San Francisco-based firm at nearly $14 billion. Notably, Meta later invested $14.3 billion for a 49% stake and recruited Scale AI’s co-founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, along with other key employees.
The Hundreds of Millions Club: Broadening the AI Ecosystem
Nvidia’s investment reach extends to numerous other promising ventures, highlighting their commitment to a diverse AI landscape.
Commonwealth Fusion: This nuclear fusion-energy startup secured $863 million in August, with Nvidia as a participant alongside notable investors like Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The deal valued the company at $3 billion.
Cohere: As a leading enterprise LLM provider, Cohere has benefited from Nvidia’s consistent support. Nvidia participated in Cohere’s $500 million Series D round in August, which valued the company at $6.8 billion. Nvidia first backed this Toronto-based startup in 2023.
Perplexity: Nvidia has been a steadfast investor in this AI search engine startup, participating in most of its subsequent funding rounds. This includes a $500 million round that closed in December 2024, and a July funding round that valued Perplexity at $18 billion. However, Nvidia did not participate in the company’s later $200 million fundraise in September, which increased its valuation to $20 billion.
Poolside: In October 2024, this AI coding assistant startup announced a $500 million funding round, led by Bain Capital Ventures, with Nvidia as a participant. The round valued the startup at $3 billion.
Lambda: The AI cloud provider, Lambda, which facilitates model training, raised a $480 million Series D round in February at a reported $2.5 billion valuation. This round was co-led by SGW and Andra Capital and included Nvidia, ARK Invest, and other investors. A significant portion of Lambda’s business model relies on renting servers equipped with Nvidia’s GPUs.
Black Forest Labs: Nvidia was part of a $300 million Series B investment in this German startup, known for its ‘Flux’ image generation models. The round, co-led by Salesforce Ventures and Anjney Midha (AMP), valued the company at $3.25 billion.
CoreWeave: While now a public company, Nvidia was an early investor in this GPU cloud provider when it was still a startup. In April 2023, CoreWeave raised $221 million, and Nvidia remains a significant shareholder.
Together AI: In February, Nvidia participated in the $305 million Series B funding round for Together AI, a company offering cloud-based infrastructure for AI model development. The round valued the company at $3.3 billion and was co-led by Saudi Arabian venture firm Prosperity7 and General Catalyst. Nvidia’s initial backing of Together AI dates back to 2023.
Firmus Technologies: This Singapore-based data center company secured AU$330 million (approximately $215 million) in September, with Nvidia among its investors. The company is developing an energy-efficient ‘AI factory’ in Tasmania, Australia, and previously focused on cooling technologies for Bitcoin mining.
Uniphore: Nvidia joined tech powerhouses AMD, Snowflake, and Databricks in leading a $260 million Series F round for this Business AI company in October. Uniphore’s multimodal platform aims to automate complex workflows and deploy ‘AI agents’ across customer service, sales, and marketing functions.
Sakana AI: Nvidia invested in this Japan-based startup in September 2024, which focuses on training low-cost generative AI models using small datasets. Sakana AI raised a substantial $214 million Series A round, valuing the company at $1.5 billion. They later raised an additional $135 million in November, though Nvidia did not participate in that round.
Nuro: In August, Nvidia participated in a $203 million funding round for this self-driving delivery startup. The deal valued Nuro at $6 billion, a notable decrease from its peak valuation of $8.6 billion in 2021.
Imbue: This AI research lab, focused on developing AI systems capable of 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, this autonomous trucking startup secured a $200 million Series B round, co-led by Uber and Khosla Ventures. Other investors included Nvidia, Volvo Group Venture Capital, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Over $100 Million Deals: Fueling Niche Innovators
Nvidia’s investments also extend to companies developing critical components and specialized AI solutions.
Ayar Labs: In December 2024, Nvidia backed Ayar Labs in its $155 million funding round. Ayar Labs is developing optical interconnects to enhance AI compute and power efficiency, marking Nvidia’s third investment in the startup.
Kore.ai: This startup, focused on enterprise-grade AI chatbots, raised $150 million in December 2023, with Nvidia among the participating investors alongside FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity.
Sandbox AQ: In April, Nvidia, alongside Google and BNP Paribas, invested $150 million in Sandbox AQ. This startup develops large quantitative models (LQMs) for complex numerical analysis and statistical calculations. This investment brought Sandbox AQ’s Series E round to $450 million and its valuation to $5.75 billion.
Hippocratic AI: Developing large language models specifically for healthcare, Hippocratic AI announced a $141 million Series B round in January, valuing the company at $1.64 billion. Nvidia participated, along with returning investors Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst. The company’s AI solutions are designed for non-diagnostic patient-facing tasks like pre-operating procedures and remote patient monitoring. While Hippocratic raised another $126 million in November, Nvidia did not participate in that subsequent round.
Weka: Nvidia invested in a $140 million round for Weka, an AI-native data management platform, in May 2024. This round valued the Silicon Valley company at $1.6 billion.
Runway: In April, Nvidia participated in Runway’s $308 million funding round, led by General Atlantic. This startup, which develops generative AI models for media production, was valued at $3.55 billion. Nvidia has been an investor in Runway since 2023.
Bright Machines: This smart robotics and AI-driven software startup received $126 million in a Series C round in June 2024, with Nvidia’s participation.
Enfabrica: Nvidia invested in networking chip designer Enfabrica’s $125 million Series B round in September 2023. Although Nvidia didn’t participate in their later $115 million round in November 2024, Nvidia reportedly spent over $900 million to hire Enfabrica’s CEO and staff, licensing its technology in an ‘acquihire’ deal.
Reka AI: In July, this AI research lab secured $110 million in a round that included Snowflake and Nvidia. The deal tripled Reka AI’s valuation to over $1 billion.
Nvidia’s Vision: Cultivating the Entire AI Ecosystem
Nvidia’s strategic investments reveal a clear vision: to not only supply the foundational hardware for the AI revolution but to actively cultivate and shape the ecosystem that builds upon it. By backing a diverse range of startups – from foundational LLM developers and cutting-edge robotics companies to specialized AI infrastructure providers and data management solutions – Nvidia is ensuring its continued relevance and dominance. Their approach goes beyond mere financial participation; it’s about forging strategic partnerships, understanding emerging technologies, and ultimately, building a robust and interconnected AI future where Nvidia remains at its core.
This extensive network of investments underscores Nvidia’s transition from a hardware manufacturer to a pivotal orchestrator of the AI industry. As AI continues its relentless march forward, Nvidia’s strategic gambits are positioning it as an indispensable player, influencing the direction and pace of innovation for years to come.