Nvidia has emerged as a leading investor in artificial intelligence (AI) companies following a series of financial injections to assist start-up firms.
As reported by the Financial Times, the world-renowned chipmaker revealed that it had backed “more than two dozen” companies over the last 12 months as it seeks to consolidate its position as a market leader in AI processors.
The California-based superpower is estimated to have been involved in six times as many deals compared to last year, with a variation of partners from innovative new start-up projects in healthcare and energy to headline AI operations.
It represents a deliberate, bold investment strategy from Nvidia as it outpaced Silicon Valley venture capitalists such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, according to Dealroom.
Win-win investment strategy
Mohamed Siddeek, Head of NVentures (Nvidia’s bespoke venture entity) spoke to FT on the robust confidence that underpins their recent investment activity.
“Broadly, for Nvidia, the number one criteria [for investments) is relevancy.”
“Companies that use our technology, who depend on our technology, who build their businesses on our technology, I can’t think of a situation where we’ve invested in a company that did not use Nvidia products.”
Nvidia’s overall portfolio now includes Inflection AI and Cohere, said to be two of the biggest competitors to OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT.
Nvidia has a vested interest in these companies, given that they are existing customers. It is a win-win situation as long as they continue to grow and evolve.
Another of its investments was in Mistral, a Paris-based AI start-up that received a €2 billion valuation earlier this month. Hugging Face and CoreWeave are two others, all of them users of Nvidia’s GPU chips or its software.
On remarks that the funding recipients are also receiving favorable conditions, Siddeek responded, “We don’t help anybody jump the queue.”
He refuted that any conditions were set on using Nvidia products as part of any investment but added that “we try to be as investee-friendly as possible.”
Nvidia’s H100 GPU chip is said to have established itself as one of the most sought-after products in Silicon Valley in recent times, enhancing its allure within the AI industry.
Image credit, Pixabay, pexels.com
