内容来源：https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/12/nvidias-ai-empire-a-look-at-its-top-startup-investments/

内容总结：

【新闻总结】AI芯片巨头英伟达战略投资版图加速扩张，已成为全球科技创投领域最具影响力的产业资本之一。

自ChatGPT面世两年多来，人工智能浪潮推动英伟达实现跨越式增长。随着营收、利润和现金储备的激增，这家市值达4.5万亿美元的高性能GPU制造商正将其资本优势转化为战略投资动力。据PitchBook数据显示，截至2025年英伟达已参与50起风险投资交易，超过2024年全年总量，这还不包括其旗下风投基金NVentures的21笔投资。公司明确表示，投资战略旨在通过扶持具有颠覆性潜力的初创企业来拓展AI生态系统。

在巨额融资案例中，英伟达的身影频现：

• 2024年10月首次投资OpenAI并承诺千亿美元级战略合作
• 同年12月参与埃隆·马斯克xAI的60亿美元融资
• 连续三轮投资法国Mistral AI，参与其17亿欧元融资
• 领投新兴企业Reflection AI的20亿美元融资
• 参与前OpenAI CTO创立的Thinking Machines Lab的20亿美元种子轮

在自动驾驶领域，英伟达布局了英国Wayve（10.5亿美元融资）和美国Nuro（2.03亿美元融资）；在人形机器人赛道投资了Figure AI（超10亿美元C轮）；同时押注核聚变能源公司Commonwealth Fusion（8.63亿美元融资）和AI云服务商CoreWeave、Lambda等基础设施企业。

值得注意的是，其投资触角已延伸至医疗AI（Hippocratic AI）、量子计算（Sandbox AQ）、光学互联（Ayar Labs）等前沿领域。这种通过战略投资构建产业生态的做法，正在重塑全球人工智能领域的竞争格局。

（根据2025年1月公开信息整理）

中文翻译：

在人工智能革命中，没有哪家公司比英伟达更深刻地把握住了时代机遇。自从两年多前ChatGPT问世以及随后众多竞争性生成式AI服务涌现以来，该公司的营收、利润和现金储备呈爆发式增长。其股价一路飙升，如今已成为市值达4.5万亿美元的行业巨头。

作为全球领先的高性能GPU制造商，英伟达正将激增的财富大规模投向初创企业领域，特别是人工智能赛道。PitchBook数据显示，截至2025年英伟达已参与50笔风险投资交易，超过2024年全年完成的48笔。需要说明的是，这些投资并不包含其正式企业风投基金NVentures的布局——该基金同期投资节奏也显著加快（PitchBook显示NVentures今年完成21笔交易，而2022年仅有1笔）。

英伟达曾明确表示，企业投资的战略目标是通过扶持那些具备"颠覆市场、开创格局"潜力的初创公司，持续拓展人工智能生态圈。以下梳理了自2023年以来获得英伟达注资且单轮融资超亿美元的初创企业，按融资额降序排列。这份名单清晰展现了英伟达如何将触角延伸至科技产业的广阔领域，远超其核心的产品供应业务。

【十亿美元融资俱乐部】
OpenAI：2024年10月，英伟达首次投资ChatGPT制造商，据称在总额66亿美元的巨额融资中出资1亿美元，使该公司估值达1570亿美元。与Thrive等投资方（《纽约时报》称其注资13亿美元）相比，这家芯片巨头的投资规模相形见绌。虽然PitchBook数据显示英伟达未参与OpenAI今年3月完成的400亿美元融资，但其在9月宣布将通过战略合作形式逐步向该公司投入最高1000亿美元，用于部署大规模AI基础设施。

xAI：2024年，OpenAI曾试图劝阻投资者注资其竞争对手。但英伟达仍在去年12月参与了埃隆·马斯克旗下xAI的60亿美元融资。据彭博社报道，在xAI计划筹集的200亿美元股权融资中，英伟达还将出资最高20亿美元——这笔交易结构旨在帮助xAI采购更多英伟达设备。

Mistral AI：当这家法国大语言模型开发商于9月以117亿欧元（135亿美元）投后估值完成17亿欧元（约20亿美元）C轮融资时，英伟达完成了对其的第三次投资。

Reflection AI：去年10月，英伟达领投成立仅一年的Reflection AI的20亿美元融资，使其估值达80亿美元。该公司定位为对中国深度求索（DeepSeek）的美国竞争者，其开源大语言模型为OpenAI和Anthropic等公司的闭源模型提供了更具成本效益的替代方案。

Thinking Machines Lab：在前OpenAI首席技术官Mira Murati创立的Thinking Machines Lab完成20亿美元种子轮融资时，英伟达出现在冗长的投资者名单中。这笔于7月正式公布的交易使这家新生AI初创企业估值达120亿美元。

Inflection：英伟达早期重要AI投资案例之一却收获了颇为特殊（但日益常见）的结果。2023年6月，该公司作为联合领投方参与了DeepMind著名创始人穆斯塔法·苏莱曼联合创立的Inflection的13亿美元融资。不到一年后，微软以6.2亿美元获得非独家技术许可，挖走了Inflection的创始团队，导致该公司人员规模锐减，发展前景蒙上阴影。

Nscale：在这家初创公司9月完成11亿美元融资后，英伟达于10月参与了其4.33亿美元的SAFE融资（一种保障投资者未来股权的协议）。这家于2023年从澳大利亚加密货币矿业公司Akorn Energy分拆成立的企业，正在英国和挪威为OpenAI的"星门"项目建造数据中心。

Wayve：2024年5月，英伟达参与了这家英国自动驾驶技术初创公司的10.5亿美元融资，该公司致力于开发自学习驾驶系统。据TechCrunch9月报道，英伟达预计将追加投资5亿美元。Wayve目前正在英国和旧金山湾区进行车辆测试。

Figure AI：去年9月，英伟达参与了人形机器人公司Figure AI超10亿美元的C轮融资，使其估值达390亿美元。这家芯片制造商首次投资Figure是在2024年2月，当时该公司以26亿美元估值完成6.75亿美元B轮融资。

Scale AI：2024年5月，英伟达联合Accel、亚马逊和Meta等科技巨头向Scale AI投资10亿美元，这家为AI模型训练提供数据标注服务的旧金山公司估值近140亿美元。到6月，Meta以143亿美元收购Scale 49%股权，并挖走了其联合创始人兼首席执行官Alexandr Wang及多名核心员工。

【数亿美元融资阵营】
Commonwealth Fusion：2025年8月，这家芯片制造商参与了核聚变能源初创公司8.63亿美元融资。此轮估值达30亿美元的投资方还包括谷歌和突破能源风险投资基金等。

Crusoe：根据美国证券交易委员会文件，这家据称向甲骨文、微软和OpenAI出租数据中心的初创公司，于2024年11月完成6.86亿美元融资。该轮由Founders Fund领投，英伟达出现在众多投资机构名单中。

Cohere：这家芯片制造商已多次投资企业级大语言模型提供商Cohere，包括去年8月以68亿美元估值完成的5亿美元D轮融资。英伟达最初投资这家多伦多初创公司可追溯至2023年。

Perplexity：英伟达于2023年11月首次投资Perplexity，并参与了该AI搜索引擎初创公司后续多数融资轮次，包括2024年12月完成的5亿美元融资。今年7月该芯片制造商参与的投资使Perplexity估值达180亿美元，但PitchBook数据显示其未参与9月使公司估值升至200亿美元的2亿美元融资。

Poolside：2024年10月，AI编程助手初创公司Poolside宣布完成由贝恩资本风险投资公司领投的5亿美元融资。英伟达参与的此轮融资使该AI初创公司估值达30亿美元。

Lambda：专注于模型训练服务的AI云服务商Lambda于今年2月以约25亿美元估值完成4.8亿美元D轮融资。该轮由SGW和Andra Capital Lambda共同领投，英伟达、ARK Invest等机构跟投。Lambda的重要业务板块涉及租赁搭载英伟达GPU的服务器。

CoreWeave：尽管CoreWeave已从初创公司发展为上市公司，但英伟达早在2023年4月其初创阶段就已投资这家GPU云服务商——当时CoreWeave正完成2.21亿美元融资。目前英伟达仍为其重要股东。

Together AI：今年2月，英伟达参与了这家提供AI模型构建云基础设施公司的3.05亿美元B轮融资。此轮由沙特风险投资机构Prosperity7与General Catalyst联合领投，使Together AI估值达33亿美元。英伟达于2023年首次投资该公司。

Firmus Technologies：去年9月，总部位于新加坡的数据中心公司Firmus Technologies从包括英伟达在内的投资者处获得3.3亿澳元（约合2.15亿美元）融资，估值达18.5亿澳元（12亿美元）。该公司正在澳大利亚塔斯马尼亚岛开发高效节能的"AI工厂"，其最初业务是为比特币挖矿提供冷却技术。

Sakana AI：2024年9月，英伟达投资了这家利用小数据集训练低成本生成式AI模型的日本初创公司。该公司的A轮融资规模高达约2.14亿美元，估值达15亿美元。

Nuro：去年8月，英伟达参与了专注自动驾驶配送的Nuro的2.03亿美元融资。此轮估值60亿美元较其2021年86亿美元峰值下跌约30%。

Imbue：这家自称正在开发具备推理与编程能力AI系统的研究实验室，于2023年9月从英伟达、Astera Institute及Cruise前CEO Kyle Vogt等投资者处募集2亿美元。

Waabi：2024年6月，这家自动驾驶卡车初创公司完成由现有投资者Uber和Khosla Ventures联合领投的2亿美元B轮融资，其他投资方包括英伟达、沃尔沃集团风险投资公司和保时捷汽车控股公司。

【超亿美元交易案例】
Ayar Labs：去年12月，英伟达参与了开发光学互联技术以提升AI计算能效的Ayar Labs的1.55亿美元融资，这是其第三次投资该初创公司。

Kore.ai：这家开发企业级AI聊天机器人的初创公司于2023年12月融资1.5亿美元。除英伟达外，FTV Capital、Vistara Growth和Sweetwater Private Equity等机构参与此轮投资。

Sandbox AQ：今年4月，英伟达与谷歌、法国巴黎银行等共同向开发大型定量模型（LQM）处理复杂数值分析与统计计算的Sandbox AQ投资1.5亿美元。此举使其E轮融资总额增至4.5亿美元，公司估值达57.5亿美元。

Hippocratic AI：这家开发医疗领域大语言模型的初创公司于今年1月宣布，由Kleiner Perkins领投完成1.41亿美元B轮融资，估值达16.4亿美元。英伟达与老股东Andreessen Horowitz、General Catalyst等共同参与。该公司声称其AI解决方案能处理非诊断性患者服务任务，如术前准备、远程患者监测和预约筹备。

Weka：2024年5月，英伟达参与了AI原生数据管理平台Weka的1.4亿美元融资，这家硅谷公司估值达16亿美元。

Runway：据PitchBook数据，今年4月英伟达参与了开发媒体制作生成式AI模型的Runway的3.08亿美元融资，此轮由General Atlantic领投，公司估值达35.5亿美元。该芯片制造商自2023年起持续投资该公司。

Bright Machines：2024年6月，英伟达参与了智能机器人与AI驱动软件初创公司Bright Machines的1.26亿美元C轮融资。

Enfabrica：2023年9月，英伟达投资了网络芯片设计商Enfabrica的1.25亿美元B轮融资。尽管该公司在去年11月再获1.15亿美元融资，但英伟达未参与此轮。

Reka AI：去年7月，AI研究实验室Reka从Snowflake和英伟达等投资方处筹集1.1亿美元。据彭博社报道，此交易使其估值增长两倍至超10亿美元。

本文最初发表于2025年1月。

英文来源：

No company has capitalized on the AI revolution more dramatically than Nvidia. Its revenue, profitability, and cash reserves have skyrocketed since the introduction of ChatGPT over two years ago — and the many competitive generative AI services that have launched since. Its stock price has soared, making it a $4.5 trillion market cap company.
The world’s leading high-performance GPU maker has used its ballooning fortunes to significantly increase investments in startups, particularly in AI.
Nvidia has participated in 50 venture capital deals so far in 2025, already surpassing the 48 deals the company completed in all of 2024, according to PitchBook data. Note that these investments exclude those made by its formal corporate VC fund, NVentures, which also significantly increased its investment pace over that period. (PitchBook says NVentures engaged in 21 deals this year, compared to just one in 2022.)
Nvidia has stated that the goal of its corporate investing is to expand the AI ecosystem by backing startups it considers to be “game changers and market makers.”
Below is a list of startups that raised rounds exceeding $100 million since 2023 where Nvidia is a named participant, organized from the highest to lowest amount raised in the round.
This list shows just how far and wide Nvidia has spread its tentacles in the tech industry, beyond supplying its products.
The billion-dollar-round club
OpenAI: Nvidia backed the ChatGPT maker for the first time in October 2024, reportedly writing a $100 million check as part of a colossal $6.6 billion round that valued the company at $157 billion. The chipmaker’s investment was dwarfed by OpenAI’s other backers, notably Thrive, which according to the New York Times invested $1.3 billion. While PitchBook data indicates Nvidia did not participate in OpenAI’s $40 billion funding round that closed in March, the chipmaker announced in September that it would invest up to $100 billion in the company over time, structured as a strategic partnership to deploy massive AI infrastructure.
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xAI: In 2024, OpenAI tried to persuade its investors not to invest in any of its rivals. But Nvidia participated in the $6 billion round of Elon Musk’s xAI last December anyway. Nvidia will also invest up to $2 billion in the equity portion of xAI’s planned $20 billion funding round, Bloomberg reported, a deal structured to help xAI purchase more Nvidia gear.
Mistral AI: Nvidia invested in Mistral for the third time when the French-based large language model developer raised €1.7 billion (about $2 billion) Series C at a €11.7billion ($13.5 billion) post-money valuation in September.
Reflection AI: In October, Nvidia led a $2 billion funding round for Reflection AI, a one-year-old startup, valuing the company at $8 billion. Reflection AI is positioning itself as a US-based competitor to Chinese DeepSeek, whose open-source large language model offers a less-expensive alternative to closed-source models from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
Thinking Machines Lab: Nvidia was among a long list of investors who backed former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab’s $2 billion seed round. The funding, which was formally announced in July, valued the new AI startup at $12 billion.
Inflection: One of Nvidia’s first significant AI investments also had one of the more unusual (but increasingly common) outcomes. In June 2023, Nvidia was one of several lead investors in Inflection’s $1.3 billion round, a company co-founded by Mustafa Suleyman, the famed founder of DeepMind. Less than a year later, Microsoft hired Inflection’s founders, paying $620 million for a non-exclusive technology license, leaving the company with a significantly diminished workforce and a less defined future.
Nscale: After the startup’s $1.1 billion round in September, Nvidia participated in Nscale’s $433 million SAFE funding in October. That’s a deal that secures future equity for investors. Nscale, which formed in 2023 after spinning out of Australian cryptocurrency mining company Akorn Energy, is building data centers in the UK and Norway for OpenAI’s Stargate project.
Wayve: In May 2024, Nvidia participated in a $1.05 billion round for the U.K.-based startup, which is developing a self-learning system for autonomous driving. Nvidia is expected to invest an dditional $500 million in Wayve, the startup told TechCrunch in September. Wayve is testing its vehicles in the U.K. and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Figure AI: In September, Nvidia participated in the Figure AI’s Series C funding round of over $1 billion, which valued the humanoid robotics startup at $39 billion. The chipmaker first invested in Figure in February 2024 when the company raised a $675 million Series B round at a $2.6 billion valuation.
Scale AI: In May 2024, Nvidia joined Accel and other tech giants Amazon and Meta to invest $1 billion in Scale AI, which provides data-labeling services to companies for training AI models. The round valued the San Francisco-based company at nearly $14 billion. In June, Meta invested $14.3 billion for a 49% stake of Scale, and hired away the company’s co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang, as well as several other key Scale employees.
The many-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars club
Commonwealth Fusion: The chipmaker participated in the nuclear fusion-energy startup’s $863 million funding round in August 2025. The deal, which also included investors like Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, valued the company at $3 billion.
Crusoe: A startup building data centers reportedly to be leased to Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI raised $686 million in November 2024, according to an SEC filing. The investment was led by Founders Fund, and the long list of other investors included Nvidia.
Cohere: The chipmaker has invested in enterprise large language model provider Cohere across multiple funding rounds, including the $500 million Series D, which closed in August, valuing Cohere at $6.8 billion. Nvidia first backed the Toronto-based startup in 2023.
Perplexity: Nvidia first invested in Perplexity in November 2023 and has participated in most of the subsequent funding rounds of the AI search engine startup, including the $500 million round closed in December 2024. The chipmaker participated in the company’s July funding round, which valued Perplexity at $18 billion. However, Nvidia did not join the startup’s subsequent $200 million fundraise in September, which boosted the company’s valuation to $20 billion, according to PitchBook data.
Poolside: In October 2024, the AI coding assistant startup Poolside announced it raised $500 million led by Bain Capital Ventures. Nvidia participated in the round, which valued the AI startup at $3 billion.
Lambda: AI cloud provider Lambda, which provides services for model training, raised a $480 million Series D at a reported $2.5 billion valuation in February. The round was co-led by SGW and Andra Capital Lambda, and joined by Nvidia, ARK Invest, and others. A significant part of Lambda’s business involves renting servers powered by Nvidia’s GPUs.
CoreWeave: Although CoreWeave is no longer a startup, but a public company, Nvidia invested in GPU-cloud provider when it was still one, back in April 2023. That’s when CoreWeave raised $221 million in funding. Nvidia remains a significant shareholder.
Together AI: In February, Nvidia participated in the $305 million Series B of this company, which offers cloud-based infrastructure for building AI models. The round valued Together AI at $3.3 billion and was co-led by Prosperity7, a Saudi Arabian venture firm, and General Catalyst. Nvidia backed the company for the first time in 2023.
Firmus Technologies: In September, Firmus Technologies, the Singapore-based data center company, received A$330 million (approximately $215 million USD) in funding at a A$1.85 billion ($1.2 billion USD) valuation from investors, including Nvidia. Firmus is developing an energy-efficient ‘AI factory’ in Tasmania, an island state of Australia. The startup originally provided cooling technologies for Bitcoin mining.
Sakana AI: In September 2024, Nvidia invested in the Japan-based startup, which trains low-cost generative AI models using small datasets. The startup raised a massive Series A round of about $214 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
Nuro: In August, Nvidia participated in the $203 million funding round for the self-driving startup focused on delivery. The deal valued Nuro at $6 billion, a significant 30% drop from its peak at $8.6 billion valuation in 2021.
Imbue: The AI research lab that claims to be developing AI systems that can reason and code raised a $200 million round in September 2023 from investors, including Nvidia, Astera Institute, and former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt.
Waabi: In June 2024, the autonomous trucking startup raised a $200 million Series B round co-led by existing investors Uber and Khosla Ventures. Other investors included Nvidia, Volvo Group Venture Capital, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Deals of over a $100 million
Ayar Labs: In December, Nvidia invested in the $155 million round of Ayar Labs, a company developing optical interconnects to improve AI compute and power efficiency. This was the third time Nvidia backed the startup.
Kore.ai: The startup developing enterprise-focused AI chatbots raised $150 million in December of 2023. In addition to Nvidia, investors participating in the funding included FTV Capital, Vistara Growth, and Sweetwater Private Equity.
Sandbox AQ: In April, Nvidia, alongside Google, BNP Paribas, and others, invested $150 million in Sandbox AQ, a startup developing large quantitative models (LQMs) for handling complex numerical analysis and statistical calculations. The investment increased Sandbox AQ’s Series E round to $450 million and the company’s valuation to $5.75 billion.
Hippocratic AI: This startup, which is developing large language models for healthcare, announced in January that it raised a $141 million Series B at a valuation of $1.64 billion led by Kleiner Perkins. Nvidia participated in the round, along with returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and others. The company claims that its AI solutions can handle non-diagnostic patient-facing tasks such as pre-operating procedures, remote patient monitoring, and appointment preparation.
Weka: In May 2024, Nvidia invested in a $140 million round for AI-native data management platform Weka. The round valued the Silicon Valley company at $1.6 billion.
Runway: In April, Nvidia participated in Runway’s $308 million round, which was led by General Atlantic and valued the startup developing generative AI models for media production at $3.55 billion, according to PitchBook data. The chipmaker has been an investor in since 2023.
Bright Machines: In June 2024, Nvidia participated in a $126 million Series C of Bright Machines, a smart robotics and AI-driven software startup.
Enfabrica: In September 2023, Nvidia invested in networking chips designer Enfabrica’s $125 million Series B. Although the startup raised another $115 million in November, Nvidia didn’t participate in the round.
Reka AI: In July, an AI research lab Reka, raised $110 million in a round that included Snowflake and Nvidia. The deal tripled the startup’s valuation to over $1 billion, according to Bloomberg.
This post was first published in January 2025.