Check out the mind-blowing numbers of the hottest AI companies in 2024

Like the artificial intelligence The gold rush continues, valuations have reached dizzying heights. Generative AI models capable of writing codes to AI-powered search engines that promise smarter answers, American AI startups rake in billions investors eager to bet on the next lucrative technological revolution.

In the third quarter of 2024, venture capitalists invested $3.9 billion in AI generation startups in 206 deals, of which $2.9 billion went to U.S.-based companies in part of 127 deals, according to PitchBook (excluding OpenAI’s $6.6 billion funding round in October).

Behind these eye-popping numbers – some companies are now valued above $10 billion – questions remain about whether these startups can maintain the hype, deliver on lofty promises and justify their rising prices.

“Vanguard has hinted at a coming ‘correction,’ suggesting these valuations might be a little too optimistic,” said Jeremy Goldman, senior. director of marketing, retail and technical briefings, Emarketer. “Investors are banking on constant innovation, but the path to AI dominance is paved with broken promises and beta testing. »

While AI companies generate revenue, dizzying projections, like OpenAI’s $11.6 billion for 2025, rely on the assumption of flawless execution and continuous innovation.

“Consumers have shown they are willing to rely on imperfect products, but companies won’t necessarily rely on imperfect offerings,” Goldman said. Meanwhile, competition remains fierce, with OpenAI discouraging investors to support their rivals.

“In a world where tech dreams often collide with reality and regulators, expect some rough landings. [in 2025]” Goldman said. “The AI ​​gold rush may yet prove successful, but some of these valuations open the door to a very public reckoning. »

Here are some top startups and the valuations everyone is watching (in descending order of price).

OpenAI

Assessment: $157 billion (as of October 2024, per The New York Times)

Highlights: World’s Most Valuable AI Startup Makes Strategic Decisions move to ensure its domination. A $10 billion investment from Microsoft in 2023 has fueled OpenAI’s rapid growth, anchored by its flagship model, ChatGPT, now integrated into Microsoft and Apple products. In 2024, OpenAI hired its first CMO and introduced ChatGPT as an AI-powered search tool, and began talking about an advertising-based revenue model. ChatGPT has surpassed 300 million weekly active users, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at the DealBook Summit earlier this month. In progress legal battles and substantial operational costs are its main challenges by 2025.

Total capital raised: $17.6 billion (by Basic Crunch)

xAI

Assessment: 40 billion dollars (in October 2024, by Bloomberg)

Highlights: Elon Musk’s xAI, a 2023 startup developing a platform to accelerate human scientific discoveries, raised $6 billion last week. This capital came from 97 investors, with stakes as low as $77,593, according to a recent SEC filing. The funds will partially support the construction of a supercomputer facility in Memphis. xAI’s flagship product is Grok, a chatbot integrated into the social network X (formerly Twitter). Musk’s entry into the AI ​​space has attracted considerable attention, positioning xAI as a competitor to established AI giants like OpenAI.

Total capital raised: $6.4 billion (per Crunchbase)

Anthropic

Assessment: 40 billion dollars (in September 2024, by The information)

Highlights: Anthropic distinguishes itself from other AI companies by prioritizing ethical considerations in its development process. A formidable rival to OpenAI with its Claude model series, Anthropic has focused on security and reliability by integrating a methodology called Constitutional AI. The goal is to create AI that can evaluate and guide the behavior of other AI systems with minimal human oversight, instead relying on a set of rules or principles. Anthropic recently made headlines with Amazon’s $4 billion investment, bringing Amazon’s total investment to $12 billion over the past 14 months, solidifying Anthropic as a key player in the AI ​​landscape.

Total capital raised: $8.4 billion (per Crunchbase)

Evolving AI

Assessment: Nearly $14 billion (in May 2024, per Bloomberg)

Emphasize: Founded in 2016, years before OpenAI’s ChatGPT took artificial intelligence mainstream, Scale became an early leader in the AI ​​industry. It is backed by tech giants like Meta and Amazon, which raised $1 billion in 2024, one of the largest funding deals of the year. The startup relies on a large workforce of contract workers to clean and label the large amounts of text, images and data needed to develop AI chatbots and other products. Additionally, Scale leverages reinforcement learning from human feedback, using insights from real users to continually improve the performance of its AI. Traditional automakers like General Motors and Toyota, as well as chipmaker Nvidia, have used its platform.

Total capital raised: $1.6 billion (per Crunchbase)

Perplexity

Assessment: 9 billion dollars (in November 2024, by CNBC)

Emphasize: Perplexity, a buzzy AI research startup backed by Jeff Bezos, started the year with a valuation of around $500 million and is now poised to raise $500 million in new funding. Known for challenging search giant Google and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Perplexity has also expanded into e-commerce. The app, which has more than 2 million downloads and handles 230 million monthly queries (as of August), recently added publishers like the Los Angeles Times and The Independent to its revenue sharing program. Perplexity pays publishers when ads generate revenue alongside their content. Brands like Whole Foods and Indeed are already testing ads on the platform. Meanwhile, The New York Times demanded that Perplexity stop using content from its site in a cease-and-desist letter sent to the company.

Total capital raised: $99.2 million ( $73.6 million in series B and $25.6 million in Series A, not including the current $500 million in new funding)

Inflection AI

Assessment: 4 billion dollars (in 2023, by TechCrunch)

Emphasize: Inflection AI initially targeted the consumer AI space with its chatbot, Pi, designed as a supportive conversational assistant. However, after struggling to monetize the product, the company is now moving towards an enterprise approach, helping businesses work with extended language models (LLM). Meanwhile, tech giant Microsoft agreed to pay Inflection $650 million for a software licensing deal. The company also recently named its co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as head of its consumer AI division.

Total capital raised: $1.5 billion (per Crunchbase)