According to a recent study by PitchBook Inc., Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp., and Google LLC have significantly increased their investments in conceptual artificial intelligence companies compared to venture capital firms this year.
The findings from the business intelligence agency were promptly released by The Financial Times. PitchBook predicts that by 2023, investors will have raised approximately \(27 billion from generative AI startups. A substantial portion of this, around \)18 billion, is attributed to investments from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
In 2023, Microsoft’s largest conceptual AI investment was the $10 billion deal with OpenAI. Semafor suggests that a significant portion of this investment may come in the form of Azure cloud resources. Microsoft is expected to acquire a 49% stake in the AI developer and receive 75% of OpenAI’s profits until the initial investment is recovered.
Following OpenAI, Anthropic PBC emerged as a leading recipient of funding in the conceptual AI sector. The company offers Claude-2, a robust language model with capabilities similar to ChatGPT. Amazon made an investment of up to \(4 billion in Anthropic in September, followed by another funding round from Google amounting to a potential \)2 billion.
Nvidia Corp. also made substantial investments in conceptual AI in 2023, aligning with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. DealBook reports that Nvidia participated in 35 funding rounds this year, a significant increase from 2022. The company was recognized as the most effective large-scale investor in AI by industry experts, excluding accelerator funds.
Other developers in the large vocabulary space secured a significant share of funding for relational AI startups not associated with OpenAI or Anthropic. For instance, LLM company Mistral closed a \(415 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Additionally, AI21 Labs Ltd. secured \)115 million in funding from a consortium comprising Nvidia, Google, and several other stakeholders earlier this month.
Although there was a slowdown in investment activity in the conceptual AI market during the second quarter, the up to $4 billion investment from Amazon in Anthropic in September contributed to an overall increase in the total value of funding rounds.
Looking ahead to 2024, major players in the conceptual AI industry are expected to attract additional funding. OpenAI is reportedly exploring new capital raising opportunities with a potential valuation exceeding \(100 billion, as per a recent Bloomberg report. Meanwhile, rival company Anthropic is seeking an investment of \)750 million, valuing the company at $15 billion.
