AI startups hit a new high, raising $5.7B in Q1 2024, a 40% increase from last year, signaling a strong interest from venture capital in AI innovation.
After a successful $25.5 billion fundraising campaign the year before, venture capital investors are still interested in startups with an artificial intelligence (AI) focus.
Also read: Major Tech Companies Sign Open Letter Vowing to Mitigate AI Risks
With $5.7 billion raised year-to-date, and a notable increase in investment, AI startups have surpassed the 2023 first quarter figures by nearly 40% thanks to recent strong funding activity in the last two months.
AI Startup Raisings Jump 40% in Q1: How To Ride This Wave? https://t.co/ayX3urqoAA
— Em Fleu (@EmFleu) March 6, 2024
More Funding for AI Startups
In recent years, VC investors have paid close attention to the explosive growth of the AI market. Since 2020, the market has almost tripled and is predicted to reach $305 billion in revenue and 315 million users this year. For this reason, investors have continued to flood AI companies and startups with money, even as venture capital funding has significantly declined in most other sectors.
Crunchbase data indicates that 2021 remains the record year for fundraising activity in the AI startup market. That year alone, AI startups raised a whopping $49.6 billion, more than double the figure reported a year before.
Artificial Intelligence companies funded in the last 3 months of 2022: $5,583,404,260.00 while #QuinnMichaels Quantum Computing Environment AI was sabotaged, much of it stolen and sold. Who is behind the sabotage of Quinn's AI being stolen code by code?
— yalermai :jewel, autograph, family of :cornett (@yalermai10) January 12, 2023
Despite a 37% decline in fundraising from the previous year following an incredible 2021, AI startups managed to raise nearly $31 billion in 2022. Companies operating in this sector raised $25.5 billion in total last year, $5.4 billion less than in 2022, indicating that the funding slowdown persisted.
But in 2024, the funding scene has recovered, with more capital being secured by AI startups in the first two months than in the first quarter of 2023. They have raised $5.7 billion so far this year, $1.6 billion more than they did in the first three months of 2023.
It’s interesting to note that although the total amount of funding rose, there were fewer funding rounds, indicating that AI startups were able to raise more money in fewer funding rounds. 86 VC investments were made in Q1 2023 in AI startups; as of now, 46 of these investments have been made, according to Crunchbase data.
Figure is one of the AI-focused startups that is crucial to the fundraising process. The California-based startup recently announced that it has partnered with OpenAI in a groundbreaking way and has raised an astounding $675 million in venture capital funding. This capital infusion helps Figure reach a noteworthy $2.6 billion capitalization.
Announcing: Figure raises $675M at $2.6B valuation
In addition, OpenAI & Figure signed a collaboration agreement to develop next generation AI models
More details below: pic.twitter.com/iVYBrcQTPT
— Figure (@Figure_robot) February 29, 2024
$173.5 Billion in Capital by AI startups
Since the year’s beginning, the AI startup market has raised nearly $6 billion in funding rounds, bringing the total funding amount to $173.5 billion.
Ninety-two billion dollars, or more than half of that value, went to American companies, with California serving as the primary hub. With $46.7 billion raised in funding rounds, Asian AI startups achieved the second-highest value, followed by European companies with $23.8 billion in total funding.
According to statistics, machine learning startups have raised the largest amount of money in funding rounds—$79 billion—by a wide margin. The next highest-valued startups are in AI software and analytics, with $67 billion and $29 billion, respectively.
Precedence Research projects that the artificial intelligence in the hardware market will reach approximately USD 381.98 billion by 2032, from a size of USD 66.96 billion in 2024. In 2023, North America held the largest market share of 37.90%, dominating the industry.
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