A List of Artificial Intelligence Funding Rounds Over $100M in 2024

2024 was a wild year for AI funding. We made a list of A-related rounds over $100 million and saw money pouring into AI at a scale we've never seen before. From big tech infrastructure companies to startups working on specialized AI tools, investors put huge amounts of money into almost every corner of AI.

The Google Effect

Here's something fascinating: many of today's top AI companies came from Google's talent pool. A December 2024 report showed that ex-Google employees started 14 of the top 50 AI companies. Together, these companies pulled in $14.7 billion in funding and are now worth $71.6 billion.

Let's look at all the big funding rounds month by month. We're talking about every investment over $100 million that happened in 2024:

January

Shield AI Gets $300M Extra Funding, Now Worth $2.8B (Jan 9)

US defense tech company Shield AI pulled in $300M more in funding, pushing their total Series F round to $500M. The company makes Hivemind, an AI system that lets aircraft fly themselves - they say they've done more AI-powered dogfighting than anyone else. Their value is now $2.8B. Read more at Pillsbury Law

Anthropic Raises $750M in Unusual Deal Led by Menlo Ventures (Jan 11)

The Claude AI maker Anthropic got $750M in new money through an interesting setup - Menlo Ventures used a special investment vehicle to lead the round. The deal bumped Anthropic's value to $18.4B and helped set terms for big investments from Amazon and Google. Full story at Forbes

Swedish Robot Maker 1X Gets $100M to Build Home Helper Android (Jan 11)

1X, based in Sweden, raised $100M to build their next robot called NEO - it's a humanoid robot meant to help around the house. They've now pulled in $125M in less than a year, with backing from OpenAI and Tiger Global. Samsung NEXT joined as a new investor. Details on 1X's website

Kore.ai Pulls In $150M from FTV Capital and Nvidia (Jan 30)

Florida-based Kore.ai got $150M to build better AI chat systems for businesses. The company already makes over $100M yearly and works with big names like AT&T and Coca-Cola. What's cool is they let companies run AI either in the cloud or locally - important for keeping company data private. More info at TechCrunch

February

Lambda Raises $320M to Build Better GPU Cloud (Feb 15)

The AI infrastructure company Lambda grabbed $320M in Series C funding to grow their GPU cloud service. They'll use the money to buy lots of NVIDIA GPUs and build faster networks. US Innovative Technology Fund led the round, with T. Rowe Price and others joining in. Read the announcement on Lambda's blog

Magic AI Gets $117M to Build AI Coding Assistant (Feb 16)

San Francisco's Magic AI raised $117M to build an AI system that can help write software. They're working on making AI that can understand much more code at once than current systems. NFDG Ventures led the funding round. Full story at Maginative

Recogni Pulls In $102M for AI Chip Development (Feb 20)

San Jose-based Recogni raised $102M to build chips for AI and self-driving cars. What's cool is their chips use less power while still being fast. Celesta Capital and GreatPoint Ventures led the funding, with BMW i Ventures among the investors. More details at Crunchbase

Glean Raises $200M to Build Enterprise AI Search (Feb 27)

Glean got $200M to make AI search better for companies. Their tool helps employees find information across all their work apps - kind of like a special ChatGPT just for your company's data. They're now worth $2.2B and have big customers like Duolingo and Sony. Full coverage at TechCrunch

March

Zephyr AI Gets $111M to Make Healthcare More Precise (Mar 13)

Virginia-based Zephyr AI pulled in $111M to use AI for better healthcare predictions. They're focusing on cancer and heart disease, working to help doctors pick the right treatments for each patient. Eli Lilly and Revolution Growth led the investment. Full story at Yahoo Finance

FundGuard Raises $100M to Make Accounting Smarter (Mar 25)

New York's FundGuard got $100M to build AI tools that help investment managers with their accounting. Key1 Capital led the round, which values the company at around $400M. They'll use the money to improve their product and get more customers. Details at Crunchbase

Celestial AI Gets $175M to Speed Up AI With Light (Mar 27)

Santa Clara-based Celestial AI raised $175M to build technology that uses light instead of electricity to connect AI computers. They say this makes AI systems run 25 times faster while using less power. US Innovative Technology Fund led the round, with AMD and Samsung also investing. Read more at Celestial AI

April

Hailo Gets $120M to Build Better AI Chips (Apr 2)

Israeli chip maker Hailo raised $120M to build special AI chips that use less power - perfect for things like smart cameras and self-driving cars. They've already got 300 customers and are going strong while many other AI chip companies are struggling. Full story at TechCrunch

Cyera Pulls In $300M for AI Data Security (Apr 9)

New York-based Cyera raised $300M to help companies keep track of their data and keep it safe, especially with all the new AI tools around. The deal values them at $1.4B - triple what they were worth last year. AT&T just signed up as both an investor and customer. More details at TechCrunch

Augment Launches With $252M to Help Coders (Apr 24)

Augment came out of stealth mode with $252M in funding to build AI tools that help developers write better code. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt backed them, along with other big investors. They're going up against GitHub's Copilot, which already has over 1.3 million paying users. Read more at TechCrunch

Cognition AI's Devin Gets $175M Just Weeks After Launch (Apr 25)

Cognition AI, makers of the Devin coding AI, grabbed $175M just a month after their first funding round. They're now worth $2B, which is pretty wild for a 6-month-old company. Devin claims to be able to handle entire coding projects by itself, from writing code to fixing bugs. Details at Maginative

Blaize Raises $106M for Edge AI Computing (Apr 29)

California's Blaize got $106M to build better AI computers that work right where you need them - not in some far-away data center. Big names like Mercedes-Benz and Franklin Templeton put money in. They're planning to go public soon too. Announcement on Blaize's website

May

CoreWeave Gets Huge $1.1B for GPU Cloud (May 5)

CoreWeave pulled in $1.1B to build out their specialized cloud for AI computing. The deal values them at $19B - pretty amazing for a company that started out mining crypto. They're part of a growing trend of companies offering alternatives to big cloud providers like AWS, often at better prices. Full story at TechCrunch

Weka Raises $140M to Handle AI Data Better (May 15)

California-based Weka got $140M to help companies manage all their AI data better. The money doubles their value to $1.6B. They've got some big customers already, including Stability AI, and they say they'll be making money by the end of 2024. Read more at TechCrunch

French Startup H Gets $220M to Build AI Helpers (May 21)

Paris-based H raised a massive $220M seed round - pretty rare for such a new company. But they've got an impressive team from DeepMind and Stanford working on AI that can help with work tasks. Amazon, Samsung, and several billionaires invested. Details at TechCrunch

Scale AI Pulls In $1B, Now Worth $13.8B (May 21)

Scale AI, which helps label data for training AI, raised $1B from big names like Amazon and Meta. They're now worth $13.8B - double what they were worth in 2021. They work with major companies like Microsoft and OpenAI to get their data ready for AI training. More at TechCrunch

June

Cognigy Gets $100M to Make Customer Service Smarter (Jun 11)

German company Cognigy raised $100M to build better AI for customer service. They help big companies like Lufthansa and Mercedes handle customer requests automatically, letting human agents focus on trickier problems. Eurazeo Growth led the funding. Full story at TechFunding News

Mistral AI Raises $640M to Build Better AI Models (Jun 11)

Paris-based Mistral AI grabbed $640M just a year after starting. The team, which includes folks who used to work at Meta and DeepMind, is now worth $6B. They're known for making their AI models open source, though they keep their best stuff for paying customers. Read more at TechCrunch

AlphaSense Raises $650M and Buys Tegus for $930M (Jun 11)

New York's AlphaSense pulled in $650M and is buying their rival Tegus for $930M. They help investors find good opportunities using AI to search through news, financial reports, and research. The deal makes them worth $4B now. Details at SiliconAngle

Etched Gets $120M to Build Special AI Chips (Jun 25)

San Francisco startup Etched raised $120M to build chips specially made for AI like ChatGPT. Most AI chips today come from Nvidia, but Etched thinks they can make chips that use less power by focusing on just one type of AI. PayPal's former CEO Peter Thiel invested in the round. More at Reuters

Bright Machines Raises $126M for Smart Manufacturing (Jun 25)

San Francisco's Bright Machines got $126M to make manufacturing smarter with AI. They're helping factories build AI hardware faster and better using robots and software. BlackRock led the investment, with Microsoft and Nvidia joining in. Announcement on Bright Machines' website

Aisles Gets $100M for AI Retail Tech (Jun 18)

Portland-based Aisles secured $100M to build AI tools for retail stores. They're keeping most details private, but say they'll use the money to make shopping and store management better with AI. Press release at AccessWire

July

Hebbia Gets $130M for AI Document Search (Jul 9)

The Stanford-born startup Hebbia pulled in $130M to make searching through big documents easier with AI. They're already making money - $13M yearly - and work with big investment firms. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, valuing them at $700M. More details at TechCrunch

Pittsburgh's Skild AI Raises $300M for Robot Smarts (Jul 11)

Skild AI got $300M from investors including Jeff Bezos to build what they call a "foundation model for robotics." They're working on making robots smarter and more flexible at handling different tasks. Full story at Yahoo Finance

AKASA Gets $120M to Make Better Computer Hardware (Jul 14)

Computer hardware maker AKASA raised $120M to build better cooling systems and cases. They've been in the business for 20 years and are using the money to improve their factories in the UK, Taiwan, Brazil, and China. Read more at LeadsOnTrees

Harvey Raises $100M to Help Lawyers Use AI (Jul 23)

Legal AI startup Harvey got $100M to build AI tools that help lawyers work better. Google's GV led the round, with OpenAI also investing. They're now worth $1.5B and say thousands of lawyers are already using their tech daily. Details at TechCrunch

August

Groq Gets $640M to Challenge Nvidia in AI Chips (Aug 5)

Mountain View-based Groq raised $640M to build chips that they say can run AI models faster and use less power than regular chips. Meta's AI chief Yann LeCun joined as an advisor. The deal values them at $2.8B, and they plan to install over 108,000 chips by early 2025. Full story at TechCrunch

DevRev Raises $100.8M to Connect Customers and Developers (Aug 8)

Palo Alto's DevRev got $100.8M to build AI tools that help customer support and product teams work better together. They're now worth $1.15B and have over 1,000 customers. Khosla Ventures led the investment. Read more at DevRev's blog

Stanford AI Prof's Startup World Labs Gets $100M (Aug 14)

World Labs, started by Stanford AI professor Fei-Fei Li, raised $100M and is now worth over $1B - just four months after starting. They're working on AI that can understand 3D objects better, which could help with gaming and robots. NEA led the round. Details at TechCrunch

Codeium Raises $150M to Help Coders with AI (Aug 29)

AI coding helper Codeium pulled in $150M, making them worth $1.25B. They've got 700,000 users and compete with GitHub's Copilot by offering better security and a free version. General Catalyst led the funding. More at TechCrunch

September

Safe Superintelligence Gets $1B to Work on AI Safety (Sep 4)

Former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever's new startup pulled in $1B to work on AI safety. They'll split operations between Palo Alto and Tel Aviv. The deal values them at $5B, with big names like Sequoia and a16z investing. Read more at TechCrunch

Japan's Sakana AI Raises $214M for Better AI Models (Sep 17)

Tokyo-based Sakana AI got $214M from major Japanese banks and tech companies, plus Nvidia. They're working on ways to make AI models work together better and train more efficiently. The company's now worth $1.5B, just a year after starting. Full story at Seeking Alpha

Quantum Systems Gets €100M for Smart Drones (Sep 25)

Munich's Quantum Systems raised €100M to build smarter drones using AI. They work across industries like mining and construction, giving real-time data from the air. Porsche SE and Notion Capital led the investment. Details at Circuit Press

October

Poolside Raises $500M for AI-Powered Dev Tools (Oct 2)

Poolside secured $500M in Series B funding led by Bain Capital Ventures with eBay and Nvidia joining in. The AI coding startup is now valued at $3B and plans to use 10,000 Nvidia GPUs for training. Read more at TechCrunch

OpenAI Hits $157B Value with $6.6B Round (Oct 2)

OpenAI raised $6.6B in the largest VC round ever, valuing the ChatGPT maker at $157B. Thrive Capital led with $1.3B while Microsoft added nearly $1B. The company plans to double down on AI research and compute capacity. Read more at TechCrunch

KoBold Metals Gets $491M for AI Mineral Exploration (Oct 7)

KoBold Metals raised $491M to advance its AI-powered mineral discovery technology, now valued at $2B. The company recently found a major copper deposit in Zambia and has 60 other exploration projects. Read more at TechCrunch

EvenUp Secures $135M for Legal AI Platform (Oct 8)

EvenUp raised $135M in Series D funding led by Bain Capital Ventures, reaching unicorn status at over $1B valuation. The legal AI company serves 1,000+ law firms and launched four new AI products for personal injury cases. Read more at EvenUp Blog

Lightmatter Lands $400M for Photonic AI Computing (Oct 16)

Lightmatter raised $400M led by T. Rowe Price, valuing the photonic computing startup at $4.4B. Their technology allows hundreds of GPUs to work together efficiently for AI training. Read more at TechCrunch

Zip Takes $190M for AI Procurement Tools (Oct 21)

Zip secured $190M led by BOND, reaching a $2.2B valuation. The startup's AI software helps businesses manage purchasing processes, with customers including OpenAI and Snowflake. Read more at Bloomberg

Sierra Raises $175M for Enterprise AI (Oct 28)

Sierra, founded by ex-Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, raised $175M led by Greenoaks Capital at a $4.5B valuation. The company builds conversational AI agents for customer service. Read more at CNBC

Path Robotics Secures $100M for AI Welding (Oct 28)

Path Robotics closed $100M in funding led by Matter Venture Partners and Drive Capital. The company develops autonomous welding robots powered by AI and computer vision. Read more at The Robot Report

Glean Gets $260M for AI Enterprise Search (Oct 31)

Glean raised $260M in Series E funding led by Altimeter and DST Global, reaching a $4.6B valuation. The company's AI-powered search helps employees find information across corporate tools. Read more at Business Insider

November

Physical Intelligence Gets $400M for Robot Software (Nov 4)

The startup raised $400M from Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, and others to build software that can work on any robot. They're now worth $2B and want to eliminate the need for robot-specific programming. Thrive Capital and Lux Capital joined the round. Read more at Reuters

DeepRoute.ai Pulls In $100M for Self-Driving Cars (Nov 4)

Chinese startup DeepRoute.ai grabbed $100M to expand its self-driving tech in China. They're aiming to have their tech in 200,000 vehicles by 2025, up from 20,000 now. Alibaba and a major automaker joined the investment. Details at Verdict

Zhipu AI Creates $211M Fund for AI Startups (Nov 5)

Chinese AI company Zhipu AI launched a $211M fund to back early-stage companies working on large language models. They've already invested in 10 startups, including high-performance computing firm Infrawaves. More at Global Venturing

Writer Gets $200M to Make Enterprise AI Better (Nov 12)

Enterprise AI platform Writer raised $200M, hitting a $1.9B value. They're helping companies like Mars and Uber use AI safely, claiming they can train models for just $700K compared to OpenAI's $4.6M. Premji Invest and Radical Ventures led the round. Full story at AIM Research

CoreWeave Closes $650M Share Sale, Now Worth $23B (Nov 13)

AI cloud provider CoreWeave completed a $650M secondary share sale, tripling its value to $23B in just a year. They supply GPU power for AI companies and are rumored to be planning an IPO next year. Jane Street, Magnetar, and Fidelity led the investment. More at Reuters

Enfabrica Gets $115M for Better AI Data Centers (Nov 19)

Silicon Valley startup Enfabrica raised $115M to make AI data centers work better. Their chips can connect up to 500,000 GPUs at once, way more than current tech. Spark Capital led the round, with Samsung and Cisco joining in. Full details at Tech Startups

Cresta Raises $125M for Smarter Customer Service (Nov 19)

Palo Alto's Cresta pulled in $125M to make customer service centers smarter with AI. They're helping companies like Verizon and Cox work better, and have quadrupled their revenue in two years. World Innovation Lab and QIA led the round. Read more at PR Newswire

Cyera Secures $300M for AI Data Protection (Nov 20)

Data security company Cyera raised $300M, reaching a $3B value. They help companies protect their data as AI use grows, focusing on cloud and SaaS platforms. Accel and Sapphire Ventures led the round. More at Cyera's blog

Enveda Bio Gets $130M for AI Drug Discovery (Nov 21)

Enveda Biosciences raised $130M to use AI to find new drugs in natural compounds. They're mapping the chemistry of the natural world to find new medicines faster. Kinnevik AB and FPV led the investment. Details at Silicon Angle

Crusoe Energy Raises $686M for AI Data Centers (Nov 21)

Former crypto miner Crusoe Energy secured $686M for AI data centers, aiming for $818M total. They're building a big center in Texas for Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Peter Thiel's Founders Fund is involved. Full story at TechCrunch

Amazon Puts Another $4B in Anthropic (Nov 22)

Amazon invested $4B more in AI company Anthropic, bringing its total to $8B. Anthropic will now use Amazon's cloud and chips to train its AI models. This comes after their first $4B deal in September. More at CNBC

LogicMonitor Gets $800M to Watch AI Data Centers (Nov 23)

LogicMonitor raised $800M to help run AI data centers better. They work with 100,000 users in 30 countries and are now worth $2.4B. PSG and Golub Capital led the investment. Read more at Inside AI News

OpenAI Gets $1.5B from SoftBank to Buy Employee Shares (Nov 27)

OpenAI secured $1.5B from SoftBank to let employees sell their shares. This comes after their huge $6.6B round that valued them at $157B. Employees have until December 24 to take part in the deal. Details at CNBC

December

Nebius Gets $700M for AI Cloud Expansion (Dec 2)

European AI cloud provider Nebius raised $700M from Nvidia, Accel, and others to grow in the US. The former Yandex company runs data centers and helps companies use AI. The money will triple their Finland center's size. Full story at TechCrunch

Veeam Hits $15B Value in $2B Share Sale (Dec 4)

Data protection company Veeam completed a $2B secondary share sale, tripling its value to $15B since 2020. They're making $1.7B yearly and growing fast, with big customers like Shell and Deloitte using their tech. TPG led the deal, which sets them up for a future IPO. Full story at TechCrunch

Cleerly Raises $106M to Spot Heart Disease Early (Dec 4)

AI health startup Cleerly got $106M to help find heart disease before symptoms show up. They analyze CT scans with AI to catch problems early, like mammograms do for breast cancer. Insight Partners led the round. Read more at TechCrunch

Tractian Pulls In $120M for Smarter Factories (Dec 5)

Atlanta-based Tractian raised $120M to stop factory machines from breaking down. Their AI helps predict problems before they happen and works like a copilot for factory workers. Sapphire Ventures led the investment. Details on Tractian's blog

Liquid AI Gets $250M to Make AI More Efficient (Dec 13)

Liquid AI raised $250M at a $2B value to build more efficient AI models. Led by robotics expert Daniela Rus and backed by AMD, they're making AI that works more like worm brains - smaller but smarter. More at TechCrunch

Zest AI Raises $200M for Better Lending (Dec 13)

Fintech startup Zest AI secured $200M to make lending smarter with AI. They analyze thousands of data points to help lenders make better decisions. Insight Partners led the funding. Full coverage at Tech Startups

China's Zhipu AI Gets $412M from Tech Giants (Dec 17)

Chinese AI company Zhipu raised $412M from Alibaba and Tencent. Their AI tools are seeing huge growth, with 25 million users of their chat model. Revenue is up 30x from last year. More at TechNode

Databricks Lands Record $10B at $62B Value (Dec 17)

Data and AI platform Databricks pulled in $10B, making it one of the biggest VC rounds ever. Thrive Capital led the round, pushing their value to $62B. They're now making money and growing fast. Read more at Reuters

SandboxAQ Raises $300M for Quantum AI (Dec 18)

Spun out from Google, SandboxAQ got $300M at a $5.6B valuation to mix quantum tech with AI. Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt chairs the company, and Meta's AI chief Yann LeCun invested. Details at Bloomberg

Vultr Gets $333M for AI Cloud Services (Dec 18)

Cloud provider Vultr raised $333M at a $3.5B value to build AI infrastructure. AMD backed them as part of their plan to compete with Nvidia in AI chips. They're building a big GPU cluster in Chicago. More at WSJ

Perplexity AI Secures $500M for Smart Search (Dec 18)

AI search engine Perplexity raised $500M, hitting a $9B value. They also bought Carbon to help search through company files better. IVP led the round for this ChatGPT competitor. Full story at Silicon Angle

Cursor Raises $100M for AI Coding (Dec 19)

AI coding assistant Cursor got $100M just four months after their last round, now worth $2.6B. They're growing super fast, with revenue jumping from $4M to $48M yearly. Thrive Capital led again. More at TechCrunch

Elon Musk's xAI Gets $6B More (Dec 23)

xAI raised another $6B from big names like Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, and Nvidia. This brings their total to $12B in 2024. The money will help double their GPU count to 200,000 for training AI models. Read more at TechCrunch

China's Stepfun Raises Big Series B (Dec 26)

Chinese AI company Stepfun pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars from local tech giants and state funds. Founded by Microsoft's former Asia research chief, they're building AI models with over 1 trillion parameters. More at Silicon Angle

In review

Looking at all the money that went into AI this year, one thing is clear: AI isn't just some cool tech anymore - it's becoming a serious business.

We saw money going everywhere - companies building basic AI technology, healthcare AI, business software, and new AI chips. But we also noticed that these huge funding rounds might make it harder for smaller startups to compete.

What's coming next? Here's what we think is interesting:

• Everyone's racing to build bigger AI computers

• More companies want AI tools for their businesses

• New companies are making special chips just for AI

• It's not just a US thing anymore - we're seeing big investments around the world

As always, thanks for your support. Knowing you are reading this is the reason we make this newsletter. Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn, X and Bluesky.

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See you tomorrow in another AI Brief!