The AI industry has continued to capture the imagination and investment dollars of venture capitalists, with many startups rising above the ranks to secure unprecedented funding. This year, AI startups accounted for about a third of all venture funding, with leading players pushing billions across. Here are the 20 companies that made the biggest fundraising waves this year in changing the world of AI across the industry.
1. OpenAI — $6.6 Billion
- Founders: Sam Altman, Elon Musk (original co-founder)
- Recent Investors: Thrive Capital, Tiger Global, SoftBank
- Valuation: $157 Billion
- Highlights: Known for pioneering models like ChatGPT, OpenAI’s historic $6.6 billion round is the largest venture deal ever, underscoring its dominance in general-purpose AI.
2. xAI — $6 Billion
- Founder: Elon Musk
- Key Investors: Sequoia, Fidelity, Valor Equity Partners
- Valuation: $24 Billion
- Highlights: Aiming to fast-track scientific discovery, xAI is Musk’s ambitious foray into next-gen AI with backing from some of the world’s largest venture firms.
3. CoreWeave — $1.1 Billion
- Founders: Brian Venturo, Michael Intrator
- Key Investors: Coatue, Fidelity, Altimeter Capital
- Valuation: $19 Billion
- Highlights: This GPU infrastructure provider fuels AI workloads, positioning itself as a critical player in the development and scalability of AI applications.
4. Scale AI — $1 Billion
- Founder: Alexandr Wang
- Key Investors: Accel, Amazon, Spark Capital
- Valuation: Nearly $14 Billion
- Highlights: Known for data-labeling services, Scale AI plays an essential role in training machine learning models with high-quality data.
5. Safe Superintelligence — $1 Billion
- Founders: Ilya Sutskever, Daniel Gross
- Key Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, DST Global
- Valuation: $4 Billion
- Highlights: Co-founded by ex-OpenAI member Sutskever, Safe Superintelligence focuses on developing safe, powerful AI systems for enterprise use.
6. Glean — $463 Million (Total Raised in 2024)
- Founder: Arvind Jain
- Key Investors: Lightspeed, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia
- Valuation: $4.5 Billion
- Highlights: This enterprise search powerhouse provides companies with an advanced AI-powered search platform.
7. AlphaSense — $650 Million
- Founders: Jack Kokko, Raj Neervannan
- Key Investors: Viking Global, SoftBank Vision Fund, Goldman Sachs
- Valuation: $4 Billion
- Highlights: AlphaSense’s market intelligence platform leverages AI to provide actionable insights, critical for financial and strategic decision-making.
8. Figure — $675 Million
- Founder: Brett Adcock
- Key Investors: Nvidia, Microsoft, OpenAI
- Valuation: $2.7 Billion
- Highlights: An AI robotics startup revolutionizing human-robot interactions with its sophisticated, AI-driven robotics platforms.
9. Groq — $640 Million
- Founder: Jonathan Ross
- Key Investors: BlackRock, Verdure Capital, Neuberger Berman
- Valuation: Over $3 Billion
- Highlights: Groq is tackling AI processing hardware with a new, unique architecture to support high-performance AI applications.
10. Magic — $437 Million (Total Raised in 2024)
- Founder: Eric Steinberger
- Key Investors: CapitalG, Sequoia, Jane Street Capital
- Valuation: N/A
- Highlights: The AI coding startup raised two rounds this year, powering advanced AI coding tools that could redefine developer productivity.
11. KoBold Metals — $491.5 Million
- Key Investors: Bond, Andreessen Horowitz (historical investors)
- Highlights: This startup applies AI to locate and develop ethically sourced metals, essential for the green tech and energy industries.
12. Poolside — $500 Million
- Key Investors: Bain Capital Ventures, Nvidia, Redpoint
- Valuation: $3 Billion
- Highlights: Poolside’s AI software development tools streamline and automate various coding tasks, making software creation faster and more efficient.
13. Abnormal Security — $250 Million
- Key Investors: Wellington Management, Menlo Ventures, Insight Partners
- Valuation: Over $5 Billion
- Highlights: Abnormal Security provides advanced AI-driven email security, addressing one of the largest cybersecurity challenges today.
14. EvolutionaryScale — $142 Million
- Founder: Lux Capital, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross
- Highlights: This startup focuses on biological AI models for therapeutic design, bridging technology and healthcare innovation.
15. Weka — $140 Million
- Key Investors: Valor Equity Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Nvidia
- Valuation: $1.6 Billion
- Highlights: Weka’s AI-native data platform enables high-speed data access, crucial for training and deploying AI models efficiently.
16. Etched.ai — $120 Million
- Key Investors: Primary Venture Partners, Positive Sum, Peter Thiel
- Highlights: Etched.ai aims to outperform traditional GPUs in AI model training, reducing costs and speeding up processing.
17. Cyera — $300 Million
- Founder: N/A
- Key Investors: Coatue, Sequoia, Accel
- Valuation: $1.4 Billion
- Highlights: An AI-powered data security platform, Cyera uses AI to safeguard sensitive information in real-time.
18. DevRev — $100 Million
- Founder: Dheeraj Pandey
- Key Investors: Khosla Ventures, Mayfield
- Valuation: $1.1 Billion
- Highlights: DevRev leverages AI to improve customer service and support through innovative AI agents.
19. Codeium — $150 Million
- Key Investors: General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins
- Valuation: $1.2 Billion
- Highlights: This coding platform provides AI-driven coding assistance, accelerating development for coders of all levels.
20. Skild AI — $300 Million
- Key Investors: Lightspeed, Bezos Expeditions, Sequoia
- Valuation: $1.5 Billion
- Highlights: Skild AI powers robotics, utilizing AI to design and control advanced robotic systems.
A New Era of AI Dominance
These 20 AI startups have reshaped the investment landscape in 2024, raising massive rounds that underscore the exciting work across industries. From changing the paradigm for hardware and software to healthcare and security, this list of companies showcases AI’s grand potential. The sector, driven by major figures that also include Elon Musk and ex-OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, is sure to continue pushing the boundaries of innovation and attracting greater funding. But whereas this list shows AI as a feature of growth, it also shapes the future of technology.
