Startups

Today’s best in startups, explore the ventures and innovations making waves now.

Elon Musk's xAI raises $20 billion from Nvidia and investors as regulatory scrutiny intensifies

LMArena raises $150M at $1.7B valuation, tripling worth in seven months with AI evaluation platform

Intel Spinout Articul8 Secures Over $35M in Series B Round at $500M Valuation

Grab acquires AI robotics firm Infermove to strengthen delivery capabilities with autonomous tech

Elon Musk's xAI raises $20 billion from Nvidia and investors as regulatory scrutiny intensifies

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI announced it raised $20 billion in Series E funding, surpassing its initial $15 billion target. The funding round drew backing from Nvidia, Cisco, Fidelity, and Qatar Investment Authority. However, the company faces international investigations after its Grok chatbot generated child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual deepfakes of real people.

20 Sources

LMArena raises $150M at $1.7B valuation, tripling worth in seven months with AI evaluation platform

LMArena, the AI evaluation platform that started as a UC Berkeley research project, has raised $150 million in Series A funding at a $1.7 billion valuation. The startup, which lets users compare AI models through crowdsourced evaluations, tripled its valuation in just seven months and now serves over 5 million monthly users across 150 countries.

4 Sources

Intel Spinout Articul8 Secures Over $35M in Series B Round at $500M Valuation

Grab acquires AI robotics firm Infermove to strengthen delivery capabilities with autonomous tech

Zhipu AI becomes first China AI tiger to go public, vows to export brutal price war globally

SoftBank completes $40 billion OpenAI investment, securing 11% stake in ChatGPT maker

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Yesterday

Intel Spinout Articul8 Secures Over $35M in Series B Round at $500M Valuation

Articul8, an enterprise AI company spun out of Intel in early 2024, has closed more than half of its planned $70 million Series B funding round at a $500 million pre-money valuation. The company, which develops specialized AI systems for regulated industries, now serves 29 paying customers and expects to reach $57 million in annual recurring revenue this year.

2 Sources

06 Jan 2026

Elon Musk's xAI raises $20 billion from Nvidia and investors as regulatory scrutiny intensifies

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI announced it raised $20 billion in Series E funding, surpassing its initial $15 billion target. The funding round drew backing from Nvidia, Cisco, Fidelity, and Qatar Investment Authority. However, the company faces international investigations after its Grok chatbot generated child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual deepfakes of real people.

20 Sources

LMArena raises $150M at $1.7B valuation, tripling worth in seven months with AI evaluation platform

LMArena, the AI evaluation platform that started as a UC Berkeley research project, has raised $150 million in Series A funding at a $1.7 billion valuation. The startup, which lets users compare AI models through crowdsourced evaluations, tripled its valuation in just seven months and now serves over 5 million monthly users across 150 countries.

4 Sources

Grab acquires AI robotics firm Infermove to strengthen delivery capabilities with autonomous tech

Singapore's Grab Holdings has acquired Infermove, a China-based AI robotics firm, to enhance its first and last-mile delivery services. The Nasdaq-listed company plans to develop Infermove's autonomous robot solutions from Singapore, exploring how the technology can improve customer and partner experiences. Financial terms remain undisclosed.

3 Sources

02 Jan 2026

Zhipu AI becomes first China AI tiger to go public, vows to export brutal price war globally

Beijing-based Zhipu AI raised $558 million in its Hong Kong IPO, becoming the first major Chinese generative AI startup to go public. Despite reporting just $27 million in sales and deepening losses, the company's co-founder predicts US AI developers will face the same price-based competition that has forced Chinese firms to forgo profits, with Zhipu charging one-seventh the cost of rivals like Anthropic.

10 Sources

30 Dec 2025

Nvidia in advanced talks to acquire AI21 Labs for up to $3 billion in talent-focused deal

Nvidia is negotiating to buy Israeli AI startup AI21 Labs for between $2 billion and $3 billion, more than double its 2023 valuation of $1.4 billion. The deal centers on acquiring AI21's 200-person team with specialized expertise in AI development, particularly in large language models. This marks Nvidia's fourth major acquisition in Israel as CEO Jensen Huang expands the company's footprint in what he calls its "second home."

7 Sources

MiniMax prices Hong Kong IPO at top as investor interest in Chinese AI startups surges

Shanghai-based MiniMax is set to raise at least $538 million in its Hong Kong debut, pricing shares at the top of the range amid strong demand from sovereign wealth funds and global investors. The Alibaba-backed startup becomes one of the first Chinese generative AI firms to go public, challenging US rivals like OpenAI.

6 Sources

SoftBank completes $40 billion OpenAI investment, securing 11% stake in ChatGPT maker

SoftBank has finalized its $40 billion investment in OpenAI, marking one of the largest private technology investments ever. The Japanese conglomerate sent a final $22.5 billion last week, bringing its total stake to 11% in the ChatGPT maker. The funding supports OpenAI's artificial intelligence infrastructure ambitions, including the $500 billion Stargate project.

12 Sources

26 Dec 2025

AI Boom Creates Over 50 New Billionaires as Startup Investment Surges Past $200 Billion

The artificial intelligence sector generated unprecedented wealth in 2025, minting more than 50 new billionaires as investors poured $202 billion into AI companies. From data labeling startups to AI agents replacing workers, founders saw their net worth surge to ten-figure amounts in record time, with some reaching billionaire status in less than three years.

6 Sources

24 Dec 2025

Marissa Mayer's Dazzle secures $8M to build next-gen AI personal assistant for consumers

Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has launched Dazzle, a generative AI startup focused on building AI personal assistants for the consumer market. The company raised an $8 million seed round at a $35 million valuation, led by Forerunner's Kirsten Green. Mayer shuttered her previous venture Sunshine after six years to pursue this opportunity, betting on consumer-facing AI's breakout moment.

3 Sources

18 Dec 2025

Nirvana Insurance raises $100M Series D, nearly doubles valuation to $1.5B in nine months

AI-native trucking insurance startup Nirvana Insurance has secured a $100 million Series D funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, nearly doubling its worth in just nine months. The company uses real-time driving telematics and 30 billion miles of truck-driving data to build AI-powered insurance policies that offer up to 20% upfront discounts for safe fleets.

4 Sources

Yann LeCun confirms Advanced Machine Intelligence startup, targets €3 billion valuation pre-launch

Renowned AI scientist Yann LeCun confirmed his new startup Advanced Machine Intelligence, seeking €500 million at a €3 billion valuation before launch. The venture will develop world model AI systems that understand the physical world, with Alexandre LeBrun from Nabla as CEO. This marks one of the largest pre-launch AI fundraising rounds.

7 Sources

Mythic Raises $125 Million to Challenge Nvidia with 100x More Efficient AI Chips

Palo Alto-based Mythic has secured $125 million in funding to develop analog processing units that cut AI energy use by up to 100 times compared with GPUs. Led by DCVC with backing from SoftBank, Honda, and Lockheed Martin, the AI chip startup plans to deploy its compute-in-memory technology across data centers, automotive systems, robotics, and defense applications.

3 Sources

16 Dec 2025

Lovable raises $330M at $6.6B valuation as vibe-coding startup triples worth in five months

Stockholm-based Lovable has raised $330 million in Series B funding at a $6.6 billion valuation, more than tripling its worth since July. The AI coding startup reached $200 million in annual recurring revenue within a year of launch, letting users build apps using text prompts without any coding experience. Major tech investors including CapitalG, Menlo Ventures, and Nvidia backed the round.

11 Sources

Echo Raises $35 Million to Secure Container Images with AI Agents That Eliminate Vulnerabilities

Israeli startup Echo announced $35 million in Series A funding to tackle a critical infrastructure problem: container images powering enterprise cloud applications contain over 1,000 known vulnerabilities. The company uses AI agents to rebuild images from scratch, creating vulnerability-free container image replacements that enterprises can deploy instantly.

2 Sources

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