From LLM pioneers to AI data centers, Nvidia’s aggressive startup funding strategy reveals its ambition to dominate every layer of the AI ecosystem.
The AI Gold Rush—And Nvidia’s Front-Row Seat
In the two years since ChatGPT’s launch, Nvidia has emerged as the backbone of the AI revolution.
- Its $4.5 trillion market cap reflects booming demand for its high-performance GPUs, the foundation for AI model training and inference.
- But Nvidia isn’t just selling the picks and shovels — it’s strategically investing in the entire AI startup ecosystem.
So far in 2025, Nvidia has surpassed its 2024 venture activity, participating in 50 VC deals (excluding those made through its formal VC arm, NVentures, which added another 21).
- The mission? To back “game changers and market makers” in AI and ensure a future where Nvidia’s hardware and platforms are foundational.
The Billion-Dollar Round Club
Nvidia’s biggest bets show its reach across AI infrastructure, LLMs, robotics, and energy.
- OpenAI: A $100M stake in a $6.6B round (Oct 2024), plus a commitment to invest up to $100B in AI infrastructure.
- xAI: Backed Elon Musk’s rival LLM startup with $6B in Dec 2024, and is expected to invest $2B more.
- Mistral AI: Nvidia joined the $2B Series C for this French LLM firm (Sept 2025), showing support for non-U.S. challengers.
- Reflection AI: Invested in a $2B round for the U.S.-based open-source LLM competitor (Oct 2025).
- Thinking Machines Lab: Backed the $2B seed round of a new AI research lab launched by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati.
- Inflection: Part of a $1.3B round for the AI lab led by DeepMind co-founder; later hollowed out by Microsoft.
- Nscale: Participated in a $433M SAFE following a $1.1B round to fund AI data centers for OpenAI’s Stargate project.
- Wayve: Invested $1.05B in this self-driving startup, with another $500M expected.
- Figure AI: Joined a $1B+ round valuing the humanoid robotics firm at $39B.
- Scale AI: Contributed to the $1B round for the data labeling giant.
The Many-Hundreds-of-Millions Club
Nvidia’s mid-tier deals still span major innovations:
- Commonwealth Fusion: $863M into nuclear fusion energy (Aug 2025).
- Crusoe: $686M for AI-ready data centers.
- Cohere: Multiple rounds, including a $500M Series D for this enterprise LLM provider.
- Perplexity: Ongoing investments in this AI search engine, now valued at $20B.
- Poolside: $500M in the AI coding assistant startup.
- Lambda: $480M for this AI cloud training platform.
- CoreWeave: Early investor in this now-public GPU cloud firm.
- Together AI: $305M Series B (Feb 2025) for building open-source models.
- Firmus Technologies: Invested AU$330M ($215M) to build a green AI data center in Tasmania.
- Sakana AI: $214M in a Japan-based generative AI startup focused on smaller, cheaper models.
- Nuro: Backed the $203M round of the autonomous delivery startup.
- Imbue: Joined a $200M raise for AI systems that reason and code.
- Waabi: Part of the $200M Series B for autonomous trucking tech.
Nine-Figure Strategic Plays
Smaller but strategic, these investments reflect targeted bets in AI tooling, infrastructure, and verticals:
- Ayar Labs: $155M for optical interconnects to reduce power bottlenecks.
- Kore.ai: $150M for enterprise chatbots.
- Sandbox AQ: $150M in quantum/AI hybrid for numerical computation.
- Hippocratic AI: $141M in LLMs for healthcare tasks.
- Weka: $140M in AI-native data infrastructure.
- Runway: $308M for generative AI in media production.
- Bright Machines: $126M Series C in robotics + AI automation.
- Enfabrica: $125M in AI networking chips.
- Reka AI: $110M for this emerging research lab, now valued at over $1B.
The Strategy Behind Nvidia’s Deal Flow
Nvidia’s capital deployment isn’t scattershot — it’s a strategic reinforcement of its dominance at every layer of the AI stack:
- Infrastructure: CoreWeave, Crusoe, Lambda, Nscale, Firmus
- LLMs and models: OpenAI, Mistral, xAI, Cohere, Perplexity
- Enterprise tools: Kore.ai, Hippocratic AI, Poolside
- Data and labeling: Scale AI, Weka
- Autonomous systems: Wayve, Nuro, Waabi, Figure AI
- Next-gen compute: Ayar Labs, Enfabrica, Commonwealth Fusion
By fueling demand for its GPUs and embedding itself into AI-first businesses, Nvidia is not just a supplier — it’s shaping the future of AI from the inside out.
Nvidia has surged ahead in 2025 with over 50 startup investments—most in AI—including billion-dollar rounds for OpenAI, xAI, and Mistral. Its strategic funding spans infrastructure, models, robotics, and energy, reinforcing its dominance across the AI value chain and fueling long-term demand for its GPUs.
