Anthropic, a startup known for its GenAI chatbot Claude, was valued at around $18 billion after a fundraise led by Menlo Ventures in 2024. The company, co-founded by Dario and Daniela Amodei, had previously received investments from Amazon.com, which doubled its stake to $8 billion, and Alphabet, which invested $500 million with plans for an additional $1.5 billion. This investment comes as the tech industry is racing to capitalize on generative artificial intelligence technology, following the launch of Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022.
https://channelnewsasia.com/business/anthropic-raise-2-billion-deal-valuing-ai-startup-60-billion-wsj-says-4843691US venture capital funding has recovered from market lows, with AI startups driving a significant portion of the growth. According to PitchBook data, total capital raised by AI companies in 2024 was nearly 30% higher year-on-year, capturing 46.4% of the $209 billion raised last year. Notably, OpenAI and xAI, backed by Elon Musk, secured funding rounds of $6.6 billion and $12 billion respectively. However, analysts are uncertain whether this enthusiasm will be sustained, citing the need for AI companies to achieve significant business milestones to continue receiving unlimited access to capital.
https://channelnewsasia.com/business/ai-startups-drive-vc-funding-resurgence-capturing-record-us-investment-2024-4843276Panasonic has partnered with Anthropic, a US-based artificial intelligence company, aiming to generate 30% of its sales from AI products and services by 2025. This move comes as Anthropic is in talks to raise funding at a valuation of $60 billion. Meanwhile, other tech companies are also making significant investments in the space, such as Toyota's investment in a Japanese rocket startup and Nvidia's acquisition of Run:ai for $700 million. Additionally, OpenAI is considering a more conventional for-profit business model, while Uber has faced a setback with its deal to acquire Delivery Hero's unit being rejected by Taiwan.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/startups/anthropic-talks-raise-funding-us60-billion-valueFazeshift, a company founded by Caitlin Leksana, has received funding to accelerate its product development and customer acquisition efforts in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. The company's AI agents can automate complex business processes such as billing workflows, customer emails, and accounting updates, using software tools previously used by human teams. Fazeshift has successfully integrated AI into sensitive business processes and is partnering with Gradient to streamline finance operations for companies of all sizes. With its technology already being used by several large enterprise customers, Fazeshift aims to become the leading solution for automating accounts receivable (AR) processes in complex business environments.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250107180091/en/Fazeshift-Secures-4MM-Seed-Round-Led-by-Gradient-to-Automate-Accounts-Receivable-with-AIThe Indian IT industry is expected to post better results in the fiscal year 2024-25 due to a favorable macroeconomic environment and accelerated adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) globally. Indian service providers are likely to outperform, particularly in large-sized transformation deals. The consulting business is expected to grow at a normal rate, while more jobs will be created, with Indian talent in high demand. As a result, venture capitalists are optimistic about investing in Indian startups, especially those focused on application-layer artificial intelligence. In 2024, Indian AI startups raised $747 million, and analysts believe the infrastructure layer space presents an opportunity.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/indian-real-estate-remains-a-profitable-investmentArtificial intelligence startups have driven a significant recovery in US venture capital funding, with total capital raised in 2024 increasing nearly 30% year-on-year to $209 billion. AI companies captured a record 46.4% of the total funding, up from less than 10% a decade earlier. Notable examples include OpenAI's $6.6 billion and xAI's $12 billion funding rounds, which have sparked investor optimism about the sector's potential. However, analysts are uncertain whether this enthusiasm will be sustained, particularly for foundation model firms that require substantial capital investments.
https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2025/01/07/ai-startups-drive-vc-funding-resurgence-capturing-record-us-investment-in-2024OpenAI plans to restructure its corporate structure by creating a public benefit corporation (PBC) that will allow it to raise more capital and remove restrictions imposed by its current nonprofit parent. The PBC, which will be based in Delaware, will consider both shareholder value and societal interests. OpenAI's existing for-profit arm will become the PBC, while the nonprofit will retain a significant interest in the form of shares determined by independent financial advisers. This move is aimed at attracting more investment to support the development of artificial general intelligence, with OpenAI having recently secured $6.6 billion in funding at a valuation of $157 billion.
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40340055/openai-outlines-new-for-profit-structure-to-stay-ahead-in-costly-ai-raced-Matrix Inc., a hardware startup based in Santa Clara, California, has introduced its first AI processor, Corsair. Backed by Microsoft and leveraging cutting-edge technology, Corsair eschews traditional GPUs and expensive high-bandwidth memory (HBM), delivering significant performance and cost benefits. The Corsair processor is purpose-built to handle demanding AI inference tasks, particularly for generative AI models such as Llama3 8B and Llama3 70B. It achieves 60,000 tokens per second at 1 ms per token in a single server and 30,000 tokens per second at 2 ms per token in a single rack, translating into substantial savings in energy and operational costs compared to traditional GPU-based solutions. Corsair is currently available to early-access customers, with broader availability planned for the second quarter of 2025.
https://www.techradar.com/pro/microsoft-backed-a-tiny-hardware-startup-that-just-launched-its-first-ai-processor-that-does-inference-without-gpu-or-expensive-hbm-memory-and-a-key-nvidia-partner-is-collaborating-with-itA Shanghai-backed investment firm, Fortera Capital, has led a funding round for AI start-up Stepfun, raising hundreds of millions of dollars. The funding was also supported by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings and Qiming Venture Partners, an early investor in several prominent Chinese companies including ByteDance and Xiaomi. Stepfun, founded in April last year, plans to use the funds to develop advanced AI models with multimodal capabilities and complex reasoning, as well as expand its consumer-oriented product portfolio. This investment reflects Shanghai's efforts to support technological innovation in key industries, led by the municipal government.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3292348/shanghai-backed-firm-helps-ai-start-stepfun-raise-hundreds-millions-dollars?module=top_story&pgtype=section