In an otherwise difficult year for venture, large language model (LLM) developers have been on a tear. We break down what's happening in the space powering the generative AI boom.
The LLM developer space has seen explosive growth in recent months, in part due to LLM-fueled applications like OpenAI‘s ChatGPT, which has reached nearly 1B monthly active users since its November 2022 launch.
But OpenAI is only one of the players building the foundational layers for generative AI applications and garnering heavy investor interest. For example, in May 2023, Cohere raised a $270M Series C round while Anthropic secured a $450M Series C round with backing from Google and Salesforce Ventures, among others.
Using CB Insights data, we explore key trends in the LLM developer landscape, including:
- Record-high funding of $11.6B so far in 2023
- Top-funded LLM developers, with OpenAI leading by nearly $13B
- The 6 LLM developer unicorns
- A steady rise in headcount over the last year across nearly all LLM developers
- The most active investors in the space, including SV Angel and Lux Capital
- A ranking of players in the space using CB Insights’ ESP matrix
Total funding
LLM developers have raised nearly $12B in equity funding so far this year — 12x as much as last year — across 10 deals. Microsoft’s $10B round to OpenAI in January has driven the surge, but 4 other LLM developers have also raised mega-rounds (worth $100M+): Cohere, Mistral AI, Adept, and Anthropic.
Some of these deals include access to computing power. For example, Google has invested hundreds of millions in Anthropic and announced a partnership in which the startup will use Google’s cloud computing services to support the compute-intensive task of model development.
Top-funded LLM developers
OpenAI is the top-funded company in the LLM developer space with $14B raised in equity, accounting for over 80% of total capital in the space. It’s followed by Anthropic with $1.6B and Cohere with $435M.
OpenAI also recently raised nearly $500M in a share sale to investors like a16z and Sequoia at a valuation of $29B — a more than 100x premium on its projected 2023 revenue of $200M.
Most highly valued LLM developers
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