No company has ridden the wave of artificial intelligence as powerfully as Nvidia. Since the debut of ChatGPT over two years ago, the chipmaker’s revenue, profit margins, and cash flow have surged dramatically. Today, Nvidia sits atop a $4.5 trillion market capitalization, fueled by the global race to build smarter, faster, and more efficient AI systems.

With its dominant position in high-performance GPU manufacturing, Nvidia has turned its soaring profits into strategic bets on the future — channeling billions of dollars into emerging startups redefining AI, robotics, energy, and data infrastructure.

According to data from PitchBook, Nvidia has already participated in 50 venture capital deals in 2025 — surpassing the 48 investments it made in the entire previous year. These figures do not even include those made through its dedicated venture arm, NVentures, which itself has accelerated its activity from just one deal in 2022 to 21 in 2025.

Nvidia’s stated goal is clear: to strengthen the AI ecosystem by backing what it calls “game changers and market makers.” The company’s investment strategy reaches across continents and industries — from humanoid robotics and autonomous vehicles to nuclear fusion and healthcare.

Below is an overview of startups that have raised over $100 million since 2023 with Nvidia as a named participant, arranged from the largest funding rounds downward. Together, they paint a vivid picture of Nvidia’s far-reaching influence beyond the silicon it manufactures.

The Billion-Dollar Round Club
OpenAI: Nvidia joined the ChatGPT maker’s record-breaking $6.6 billion funding round in October 2024, contributing around $100 million. Despite not joining OpenAI’s $40 billion round earlier this year, Nvidia has pledged to invest up to $100 billion in partnership with the company to expand AI infrastructure globally.

xAI: In a bold move, Nvidia also took part in Elon Musk’s $6 billion xAI funding in December 2024 — even as OpenAI reportedly discouraged its backers from investing in competitors. Bloomberg reports that Nvidia plans to commit an additional $2 billion in equity to support xAI’s next $20 billion round.

Mistral AI: The French AI firm, known for developing competitive large language models, received a €1.7 billion ($2 billion) investment round in September, marking Nvidia’s third involvement with the company.

Reflection AI: Nvidia led a $2 billion funding round for Reflection AI in October 2025. The one-year-old U.S.-based startup aims to rival China’s DeepSeek with open-source, affordable large language models.

Thinking Machines Lab: Nvidia participated in the $2 billion seed round of Thinking Machines Lab, a startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. The funding, announced in July, valued the new company at $12 billion.

Inflection: Nvidia was a major investor in Inflection’s $1.3 billion raise in June 2023, co-founded by DeepMind’s Mustafa Suleyman. Microsoft later absorbed much of the startup’s talent, paying $620 million for a non-exclusive license to its technology.

Nscale: Nvidia invested in Nscale’s $1.1 billion round in September, followed by a $433 million SAFE deal a month later. Nscale, which spun out of Australia’s Akorn Energy, is developing data centers in the UK and Norway for OpenAI’s Stargate project.

Wayve: The U.K.-based autonomous driving startup secured $1.05 billion in May 2024, with Nvidia among the backers. The company is expected to receive an additional $500 million from Nvidia as it expands testing in the U.K. and U.S.

Figure AI: Nvidia joined Figure AI’s $1 billion Series C in September, valuing the humanoid robotics company at $39 billion. Nvidia had previously invested during its $675 million Series B round earlier in 2024.

Scale AI: In May 2024, Nvidia teamed up with Accel, Amazon, and Meta to invest $1 billion in Scale AI, a data-labeling company valued at nearly $14 billion. Meta later acquired a 49% stake for $14.3 billion and hired several of its top executives.

The Hundreds-of-Millions Club
Commonwealth Fusion: Nvidia joined a major $863 million funding round in August 2025 for the nuclear fusion energy startup, alongside Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Crusoe: In November 2024, the chipmaker invested in Crusoe’s $686 million round, supporting the company’s efforts to build AI-ready data centers.
Cohere: Nvidia has been a recurring investor in Cohere, including its $500 million Series D in August that valued the company at $6.8 billion.

Perplexity: The AI search engine startup has seen multiple Nvidia investments since 2023. The company raised $500 million in December 2024, followed by additional rounds that brought its valuation to $20 billion.

Poolside: Nvidia participated in the $500 million funding of the AI coding assistant startup in October 2024, valuing it at $3 billion.

Lambda: Nvidia joined a $480 million Series D in February 2025 for the AI cloud provider, a company that rents Nvidia-powered servers for training models.

Together AI: Nvidia joined the $305 million Series B round for this AI infrastructure startup in February 2025, valuing it at $3.3 billion.

Firmus Technologies: In September, Nvidia invested roughly $215 million USD in the Singapore-based data center firm developing an “AI factory” in Tasmania.

Sakana AI: The Japan-based generative AI startup raised $214 million in 2024 with Nvidia’s participation.

Nuro, Imbue, and Waabi: Nvidia has also supported these AI-focused firms, with investments ranging between $200 million and $203 million, targeting robotics, reasoning AI, and autonomous trucking technologies.

Deals Over $100 Million
Ayar Labs: Nvidia invested in the $155 million round for the optical computing startup in December 2024 — its third investment in the company.

Kore.ai and Sandbox AQ: Both received $150 million each in separate rounds where Nvidia was an active investor, backing enterprise AI tools and large quantitative models.

Hippocratic AI: The healthcare AI firm raised $141 million in January 2025, attracting Nvidia’s participation alongside major venture firms.

Weka and Runway: Nvidia invested $140 million in Weka, an AI-native data management platform, and $308 million in Runway, a creative AI tools developer valued at $3.55 billion.

Bright Machines, Enfabrica, and Reka AI: Nvidia has also backed these startups in funding rounds between $110 million and $126 million, spanning robotics, chip design, and AI research.

Powering the Future of AI

From data labeling and fusion energy to humanoid robotics and autonomous vehicles, Nvidia’s investment playbook signals one thing — it’s no longer just a hardware company. The chip giant is positioning itself as the backbone of a global AI revolution, supplying not just GPUs but the financial muscle, partnerships, and ecosystem needed to sustain it.

As generative AI and advanced computing continue to reshape industries, Nvidia’s strategic bets may determine who leads the next frontier of artificial intelligence — and who gets left behind.

Source: Techcrunch