Nvidia has emerged as one of the biggest winners of the AI boom, transforming its financial standing in the wake of ChatGPT’s launch and the rise of competing generative AI tools. With soaring revenues and a skyrocketing stock price, the company has turned its attention to backing startups that are helping to shape the AI landscape.
In recent years, Nvidia has ramped up its investment activity, especially in artificial intelligence companies. According to data from PitchBook, the tech giant was involved in 49 funding rounds for AI startups in 2024, up significantly from 34 deals in 2023. That figure far surpasses Nvidia’s combined AI investments in the previous four years. What’s more, these numbers don’t even include investments from its corporate venture arm, NVentures, which also sharply increased its activity—jumping from just two deals in 2022 to 24 in 2024.
Nvidia’s stated mission is to support startups that it sees as industry disruptors and ecosystem builders. Let’s take a look at some of its most notable investments since 2023, focusing on rounds that raised over $100 million.
Among the largest recipients of Nvidia’s backing is OpenAI. Nvidia joined a massive $6.6 billion funding round for the creator of ChatGPT in October, reportedly contributing $100 million. It also invested in Elon Musk’s xAI, which secured $6 billion. Another early and sizable bet was on Inflection AI, which raised $1.3 billion in 2023, although much of its team later moved to Microsoft.
Nvidia has supported a range of other major AI players: It joined a $1.05 billion round for U.K.-based Wayve, which focuses on autonomous driving; a $1 billion investment in Scale AI, a data-labeling firm; and hundreds of millions for companies like Crusoe, Figure AI, Mistral AI, Lambda, and Cohere.
Beyond these billion-dollar rounds, Nvidia participated in significant deals for startups such as Ayar Labs, Kore.ai, Sandbox AQ, Hippocratic AI, Weka, Runway, Bright Machines, and Enfabrica. These companies span fields from data management and healthcare AI to robotics and networking technology.
Nvidia’s aggressive investment strategy reflects its vision of shaping the next generation of AI technologies while ensuring its own hardware remains at the core of these advancements. The company shows no signs of slowing down as it continues to bet big on the future of AI innovation.
