OpenAI raises fund at 90 billion dollar valuation. Becomes 3rd most valued private startup after Byte dance and SpaceX

- OpenAI is aiming to raise at least $5bn at a $150bn valuation from investors like Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Thrive Capital. - The San Francisco-based AI start-up is in talks with investors to fund its ambitious AI model development plans. - Thrive Capital, led by Josh Kushner, is expected to invest $1bn in this round. - The total fundraising could exceed $6.5bn, with Microsoft already having committed $13bn to OpenAI. - Despite rapid growth and $2bn in annual revenue, OpenAI remains lossmaking due to high development costs and increasing competition. Source: [Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/dde0855e-4543-4d3a-8ff5-e6fb3c3ff305)

- OpenAI is in talks to raise a new funding round at a valuation exceeding $100 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. - Investors have already valued OpenAI at over $100 billion in secondary market deals, with companies like Rainmaker Securities and Caplight tracking these transactions. - Thrive Capital, led by Josh Kushner, is reportedly leading the primary deal with a $1 billion investment, alongside potential investors Microsoft, Nvidia, and Apple. - OpenAI's valuation has surged from $86 billion in September to bids valuing it up to $143 billion, driven by its rapid revenue growth, now tracking to hit $2 billion in ARR by year-end. - The high valuation and investor interest in OpenAI are expected to boost secondary market activity and valuations for other AI companies like Anthropic, Cohere, and Hugging Face. Source: [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/30/investors-are-already-valuing-openai-at-over-100b-on-the-secondaries-market/)

- OpenAI reportedly discussing new funding round led by Thrive Capital - Potential valuation exceeds $100 billion, up from previous $86 billion - Thrive Capital expected to contribute $1 billion, Microsoft likely to participate - OpenAI's annualized revenue surpassed $3.4 billion early this year - Company projected to lose nearly $5 billion by year-end, having spent $8.5 billion on AI development Source: [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/28/openai-reportedly-in-talks-to-close-new-funding-round-at-100b-valuation/)

- Safe Superintelligence (SSI), co-founded by Ilya Sutskever, has secured $1 billion in funding. - The funds will be used to acquire computing power and hire top talent. - SSI is valued at $5 billion and has 10 employees split between Palo Alto and Tel Aviv. - Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and DST Global. - Sutskever aims to develop safe AI systems that surpass human capabilities. Source: [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-co-founder-sutskevers-new-safety-focused-ai-startup-ssi-raises-1-billion-2024-09-04/)

- Apple and Nvidia reportedly discussing investment in OpenAI's new funding round - Thrive Capital expected to lead with $1 billion investment - Microsoft, OpenAI's largest investor, likely to participate - OpenAI's ChatGPT integration boosting Apple's AI strategy - AI arms race driving high valuations and investments across industries Source: [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/apple-nvidia-in-talks-to-join-openai-funding-round-reports-say/article68584312.ece/amp/)

Perplexity raises $73.6M from the likes of some big names like Jeff Bezos, Naval, Balaji, NVIDIA. Just last month Mistral raised more than $400M in its second funding. AI based startups are the future I guess? https://twitter.com/AravSrinivas/status/1742918329797574709?t=MtMOF8D3AX6GodNE13pNBw&s=19

- Skild AI, an AI robotics startup, has secured $300 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, SoftBank, and Jeff Bezos through Bezos Expeditions. - The funds will be used to scale the business model, expand training datasets, and support hiring in AI, robotics, engineering, operations, and security teams. - Co-founded by former Carnegie Mellon University professors Abhinav Gupta and Deepak Pathak in 2023, Skild AI builds AI-powered brains for robots and is now valued at $1.5 billion. - Skild AI's model is trained on significantly more data points than competitors and is designed for general-purpose use in various robots and scenarios. - The startup's team includes experts from Meta, Tesla, NVIDIA, Amazon, Google, and top universities, aiming to bring a GPT-3 moment to the world of robotics.

- WhizHack has secured $3 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round from SAAA Capital, valuing the startup at $100 Mn. - The fresh capital will be used to enhance R&D through collaborations with universities in India and the US. - The startup plans to raise a larger Series A round in early 2025 to expand into North America and Europe. - WhizHack has seen over 200% annual growth in business from enterprise and government clients, and a 50X increase in shareholder value over the past three years. - Founded in November 2020, WhizHack competes with Kratikal, Hicube, and Skylark, and counts IITs, NPTI, and Microsoft among its partners. Source: Inc42

- Sarvam AI - $41M (Lightspeed and Peak XV) - Mad Street Den - $67M (Avatar, Peak XV) - Wysa - $25M - Neysa Networks - $20M (Matrix Partners) - Scribble Data - $2.3M (Blume Ventures) - Expertia AI - $1.3M (Chiratae Ventures) - OnFinance - $ 1.1M (Silverneedle Ventures) - Krutrom AI - $50M (Matrix Partners)