Key takeaways
- NVIDIA plans to invest up to $1 billion in AI startup Poolside to boost its valuation.
- Poolside aims to raise $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation, significantly up from last year's $3 billion.
- The startup has secured over $1 billion in commitments, indicating strong investor confidence in AI.
- Poolside focuses on coding automation for government and defense sectors, with ambitions for artificial general intelligence.
- NVIDIA CEO highlights the strong ecosystem supporting AI startups, enhancing their development and growth.
NVIDIA is reportedly planning to invest up to $1 billion in the AI startup Poolside, aiming to significantly increase the startup's value, according to sources familiar with the situation, Bloomberg said on Thursday.
Poolside is currently negotiating to raise $2 billion at a valuation of $12 billion, excluding prior capital raised. NVIDIA's previously unreported investment in this funding round is set to begin at $500 million, potentially reaching $1 billion if the startup achieves its fundraising goals, according to one unnamed source.
The AI startup has already secured over $1 billion in commitments for the new funding round, including approximately $700 million from existing investors. Additionally, Magnetar, a hedge fund investment manager, is also reportedly looking to invest in this round, according to Bloomberg.
The new valuation for Poolside marks a significant increase from the $3 billion valuation during a funding round last year. This deal demonstrates strong investor confidence in an AI startup that launched its first product just a year ago.
With offices in the US and Paris, Poolside focuses on coding automation aimed at the government and defence sectors. The company also expresses ambitions to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), a more advanced and theoretical form of AI that is capable of surpassing human intelligence.
During his keynote speech at the GTC conference on Tuesday, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said, “I’m delighted that AI startups build on NVIDIA. They do so for several reasons. One, of course, our ecosystem is rich. Our tools work great.”
Additionally, the investment fits well with Poolside's ambitious infrastructure goals. Earlier this month, the company revealed a collaboration with CoreWeave Inc. to develop one of the largest data centres in the US, part of a project named Project Horizon.
This facility, slated for construction in West Texas, is projected to have a capacity of 2 gigawatts, sufficient to supply power to approximately 1.5 million households.
