The Latest VC Investment Deals in AI Startups - 2025 

In 2025, the artificial intelligence (AI) sector witnessed several significant venture capital (VC) investment deals globally. Here are some massive VC deals in AI startups, along with their announcement dates:

OpenAI's $40 Billion Funding Round

• When: January 30, 2025
• Recipient AI Company: OpenAI
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Led by SoftBank, with participation from other investors
• Details: OpenAI is in discussions to raise up to $40 billion in a new funding round, potentially valuing the company at up to $300 billion. SoftBank is expected to lead the round with an investment of between $15 billion and $25 billion, while the rest of the funding would come from other investors. This new valuation represents a significant increase from OpenAI's previous valuation of $157 billion in October 2024. The raised funds will support OpenAI's $18 billion commitment to Stargate, a joint venture to build data centers in the U.S., and to cover its operational expenses. If successful, this round would make OpenAI the world's second-most valuable startup, following SpaceX. Reference: Reuters

SoftBank's Investment in Skild AI

• When: January 28, 2025
• Recipient AI Company: Skild AI
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: SoftBank
• Details: SoftBank led a funding round for AI robotics startup Skild AI, raising the company's valuation to nearly $4 billion. Founded in Pittsburgh in 2023, Skild AI specializes in developing scalable foundation models for robotics, focusing on enabling safe and dexterous human-robot interactions. Reference: Yahoo Finance

Reid Hoffman's Launch of Manas AI

• When: January 27, 2025
• Recipient AI Company: Manas AI
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Reid Hoffman, Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Details: LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, in collaboration with cancer researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee, launched Manas AI with an initial funding of $24.6 million. The startup focuses on AI-driven drug discovery, initially targeting cancers such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma to accelerate treatment development. Reference: WSJ

Databricks' $10 Billion Funding Round

• When: January 22, 2025

• Recipient AI Company: Databricks
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners, and WCM Investment Management
• Details: Databricks raised $10 billion at a $62 billion valuation, marking the largest venture capital raise of 2024 and one of the largest on record. The company plans to use the new funds to develop new AI products, acquisitions, international expansion, and provide liquidity for current and former employees.
  Reference: TechCrunch

Perplexity AI's $500 Million Funding Round

• When: January 18, 2025
• Recipient AI Company: Perplexity AI
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Not specified
• Details: Perplexity AI closed a $500 million funding round, increasing its valuation to $9 billion. The company plans to introduce advertisements on its search platform by the fourth quarter of 2024, signaling its expansion into monetization strategies. Reference: Business Insider

Anthropic's $2 Billion Funding Round

• When: January 7, 2025
• Recipient AI Company: Anthropic
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Amazon (existing backer)
• Details: Anthropic, a leading AI research company, entered advanced discussions to raise $2 billion, which could push its valuation to $60 billion. The funding round is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, reinforcing Anthropic's position as a major competitor in the AI space. Reference: TechCrunch

KoBold Metals' $537 Million Raise

• When: January 1, 2025
• Recipient AI Company: KoBold Metals
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Durable Capital Partners LP, T. Rowe Price
• Details: KoBold Metals, a U.S.-based mining startup using AI to discover mineral deposits, raised $537 million in a funding round co-led by Durable Capital Partners LP and T. Rowe Price. With a valuation of $2.96 billion, KoBold aims to reduce reliance on China for critical metals like copper, lithium, and nickel. Reference: Bloomberg

World Labs' $230 Million Funding Round

• When: 2024
• Recipient AI Company: World Labs
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Investors include Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff, Adobe Ventures, AMD Ventures, Databricks Ventures, NVentures, Salesforce Ventures, Ashton Kutcher, Anne Wojcicki, Susan Wojcicki, Reid Hoffman, and others
• Details: World Labs, dedicated to large world models (LWMs) for bringing AI from 2D to 3D, emerged from stealth in 2024 and has raised more than $230 million in funding. The company's technology can generate 3D environments from a single image for movies, games, simulators, and other use cases. Reference: Crunchbase

CoreWeave's $650 Million Credit Facility

• When: October 11, 2024
• Recipient AI Company: CoreWeave
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley
• Details: CoreWeave, a cloud-computing startup specializing in GPU infrastructure for AI developers, secured a $650 million credit line to expand its operations and data centers. The financing, led by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, will support the company's scaling efforts amid increasing demand for AI computing power. Reference: CNBC

Crescendo.ai's $50 Million Series C Funding Round

• When: October 2, 2024
• Recipient AI Company: CrescendoAI Inc.
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: General Catalyst, Celesta Capital, Alorica, and several angel investors
• Details: Crescendo, a pioneer of augmented AI in the customer service industry, secured a $50 million Series C funding round, valuing the company at $500 million. The company offers an AI-powered customer support service that eliminates the need for companies to establish their own contact centers. Its AI assistant handles simple inquiries, while more complex requests are directed to Crescendo's customer service professionals. The platform supports multiple customer service use cases, including product inquiries, troubleshooting, shipping updates, and return processing. Additionally, Crescendo announced the acquisition of PartnerHero, a business services provider specializing in customer support solutions. Reference: BizJournals

OpenAI's $6.6 Billion Funding Round

• When: October 2, 2024
• Recipient AI Company: OpenAI
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Not specified
• Details: OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in a new funding round, bringing its valuation to approximately $157 billion. The funds will be used to bolster OpenAI’s leadership in frontier AI research and increase its compute capacity, reinforcing its position as a dominant player in the AI industry. Reference: WSJ

Harvey's $100 Million Series C Funding Round

• When: July 2024
• Recipient AI Company: Harvey
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: GV, OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, SV Angel
• Details: Harvey, an AI startup developing legal technology solutions, raised $100 million in a Series C funding round. The financing, led by GV with participation from OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, and SV Angel, valued the company at $1.5 billion. Harvey's AI-powered tools aim to enhance efficiency for legal professionals. Reference: Law.com

Mistral AI's €600 Million Series B Funding

• When: June 2024
• Recipient AI Company: Mistral AI
• Venture Capitalist/Investor: Not specified‍
• Details: Mistral AI, a French AI startup specializing in open-weight large language models, secured €600 million in a Series B funding round. The investment increased the company’s valuation to €5.8 billion, positioning Mistral AI as a key player in the European AI landscape. Reference: Reuters