Our new column “Top 5 VC Deals of the Week in AI” outlines the largest VC-funded deals in the artificial intelligence sector for our readers. While our new brand AI & Finance is focused on AI/ML in the FINANCE sector, this column will cover ALL the largest VC deals in AI, regardless of whether the funded company is in the finserv industry or elsewhere.
We will also continue to use a slightly different format than our other weekly Top 5 VC Deals in Digital Wealth column which covers the fintech sector at large.
As an aside, we continue to use varying AIs for this new brand to help us with content creation, but we consistently find that it often needs extensive editing and additions. In the case of this week’s column, the AI (CoPilot) did a great job of searching and identifying the firms with top funding in the AI sector but did quite badly at finding the funding round or sources, so we had to do that manually.
You may recall that we also used CoPilot two weeks ago for this column and it performed brilliantly, but when given the same prompt last week but with new date parameters, it yielded ZERO results. As noted before, these AI-led writing tasks will no doubt improve over time, but we wanted to share the realities of this new frontier with our readers, so you can understand the pluses and minuses, as they stand in March 2024.
Meanwhile, here are the top 5 venture-funded AI deals that took place from March 15, 2024, to March 21, 2024.
1. Applied Intuition – Applied Intuition, a company specializing in autonomous vehicle technology, secured a substantial $250 million in funding. Their cutting-edge solutions are poised to revolutionize the automotive industry.
- Funding Amount: $250 million
- Round of Funding: Series E
- Funding Sources: led by Bilal Zuberi at Lux Capital (Series C lead investor), Elad Gil (Series D lead investor), strategic investor Porsche Investments Management S.A., Andreessen Horowitz (Series A lead investor), General Catalyst (Series B lead investor), Mary Meeker at BOND, Henry Kravis, Mustafa Suleyman (Founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI), Ray Dalio, Reid Hoffman, John Quinn, and Nico Rosberg
2. Luminary Cloud – Luminary Cloud, a software company, raised $115 million to further develop their innovative products. Their focus on cloud-based solutions is gaining attention from investors.
- Funding Amount: $115 million
- Round of Funding: Launch
- Funding Sources: Sutter Hill Ventures led the round
3. Zephyr AI – Zephyr.ai, a biotech firm specializing in artificial intelligence applications, secured $111 million. Their work at the intersection of AI and healthcare promises exciting advancements.
- Funding Amount: $111 million
- Round of Funding: Series A
- Funding Sources: Revolution Growth, Eli Lilly & Company, Jeff Skoll, and EPIQ Capital Group, among others
4. Together – Together, an AI company, received $106 million in funding. Their mission is to create collaborative AI tools that enhance productivity across various industries.
- Funding Amount: $106 million
- Round of Funding: Not specified
- Funding Sources: Salesforce Ventures with participation from Coatue, and existing investors, Lux Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Emergence Capital, Prosperity7 Ventures, NEA, Greycroft, Definition Capital, Long Journey Ventures, Factory, Scott Banister, and SV Angel with participation from industry luminaries including Clem Delangue, CEO of HuggingFace, and Soumith Chintala, the creator of PyTorch.
5. Nozomi Networks – Nozomi Networks, a cybersecurity company leveraging AI, secured $100 million. Their focus on protecting critical infrastructure from cyber threats is gaining recognition.
- Funding Amount: $100 million
- Round of Funding: Series E
- Funding Sources: Mitsubishi Electric, Schneider Electric and previously Honeywell and Johnson Controls
These deals highlight the growing interest and investment in AI technologies across various sectors. Stay tuned for more updates on venture-funded AI deals.
Written by DWN/AI&F Staff & CoPilot
Disclaimer: The funding details provided are based on available information and may be subject to updates or changes.
