By NewsBlogger AI startups Figure, Glean, Exodigo, AiDash, Photoroom, Novity, Chiral, and Mistral AI have collectively raised over $1.5 billion in funding to expand their operations, while Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging breach of contract and fiduciary duty, and unfair competition.
At a glance
- AI startup Figure, based in Sunnyvale, California, raised $675 million in a series B funding round from investors, including Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, Nvidia, Bezos Expeditions, and others. The funds will be used to scale up AI training, expand its engineering staff, and further its commercial deployment efforts.
- Glean, an AI-powered assistant provider based in Palo Alto, raised $200 million from investors, including Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and others. The funding will be used to develop a secure, comprehensive, and intuitive enterprise AI platform.
- Exodigo, an Israeli startup using AI for underground mapping, raised $105 million in a series A round from investors, including Greenfield Partners, Zeev Ventures, SquarePeg, and others. The funds will be used to expand its global team, accelerate product development, and support expansion into new markets.
- Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, its CEO, Sam Altman, and its president, Greg Brockman, alleging that OpenAI prioritized profits and commercial interests in developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) over its nonprofit duty to protect the public good.
- Paris-based startup Mistral AI, specializing in natural language processing models and conversational AI capabilities, has formed partnerships with IBM, Microsoft, and others. The company has received $415 million in funding and is positioned to compete with dominant players like OpenAI and Anthropic.
The details
AI Startup Sector Activity
AI Business has reported a surge in activity within the AI startup sector, with numerous companies raising significant funding and expanding their operations.
Company Highlights
One such company is Figure, an AI startup based in Sunnyvale, California, that is developing versatile AI robots for a variety of tasks.
Figure recently raised $675 million in a series B funding round. Investors in this round included Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, Nvidia, Bezos Expeditions, Parkway Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Align Ventures, and ARK Invest. The company plans to use the funding to scale up AI training, expand its engineering staff, and further its commercial deployment efforts.
Figure also recently signed a deal with BMW to build autonomous humanoid robots for auto manufacturing.
Further south in Palo Alto, Glean, an AI-powered assistant provider, recently raised $200 million. Investors in Glean include Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, ICONIQ Growth, IVP, Capital One Ventures, Citi, Databricks Ventures, Workday Ventures, and General Catalyst. Glean’s assistant uses search and RAG technology to retrieve relevant information for large language models. The funding will be used to develop a secure, comprehensive, and intuitive enterprise AI platform.
In Israel, startup Exodigo is using AI for underground mapping to minimize the need for preliminary digging and drilling. Exodigo recently raised $105 million in a series A round. Investors in this round included Greenfield Partners, Zeev Ventures, SquarePeg, 10D VC, JIBE, and National Grid Partners. The funds will be used to expand its global team, accelerate product development, and support expansion into new markets.
Silicon Valley-based AiDash, which uses satellites and AI to analyze risks facing critical infrastructure, raised $50 million in a series C round. Investors in AiDash include Lightrock, SE Ventures, G2 Venture Partners, Benhamou Global Ventures, National Grid Partners, Edison International, Shell Ventures, and others. AiDash plans to use its funding to fuel growth, double its team to 600, open a European headquarters, and continue to expand abroad.
Paris-based Photoroom, creator of an AI-powered photo editor that has been downloaded over 150 million times, raised $43 million in a series B round. Investors in Photoroom are Balderton, Aglae, and Y Combinator. The funding will be used to expand model capabilities, secure imagery, and double the team size by the end of 2024.
Novity, based in San Carlos, California, has developed a solution that can predict equipment failures with over 85% accuracy. Novity recently raised $7.8 million from investors including WERU Investment, Myriad Venture Partners, and Metawater Co. The funding will be used to enhance its TruPrognostics AI platform, acquire more customers, and improve its software product.
Zurich-based Chiral, a nanotechnology company developing the next generation of electronics using high-speed, automated, robotic machines, raised $3.8 million in a pre-seed round. Investors in Chiral include Founderful, HCVC, ETH Zurich, and Venture Kick. The funding will be used to accelerate the development of its next machine and expand its team.
Legal and Partnership News
In legal news, Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, its CEO, Sam Altman, and its president, Greg Brockman.
The lawsuit includes claims of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair competition.
The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI prioritized profits and commercial interests in developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) over its nonprofit duty to protect the public good.
Legal experts suggest that Musk’s lawsuit raises valid concerns about the potential for a company to launch as a nonprofit, collect pre-tax donations, and then transfer the IP into a for-profit venture.
The lawsuit also highlights the structural issues between nonprofit and for-profit entities within OpenAI.
Lastly, Paris-based startup Mistral AI has formed partnerships with IBM, Microsoft, and others.
The company specializes in natural language processing models and conversational AI capabilities.
Mistral AI’s flagship commercial model, Mistral Large, was unveiled through a deal with Microsoft to offer it via the Azure cloud platform.
According to Mistral’s benchmarks, Mistral Large is the world’s second most capable commercial language model behind GPT-4.
The company has received $415 million in funding and is positioned to compete with dominant players like OpenAI and Anthropic.
