We map every one of big tech's AI investments in 2023 and highlight where these giants are seeing the most opportunity.
Big tech companies — Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia — are betting big on AI.
Microsoft’s market cap is hovering at all-time highs as investors have gotten behind its embrace of the technology. Meanwhile, Nvidia joined the club after cruising past the $1T and $2T market cap benchmarks in less than a year on the back of demand for its high-end AI chips.
Where big tech is putting its money — including investments and acquisitions — provides a window into each player’s strategy. The number of AI deals backed by the group increased 57% in 2023 compared to 2022. Notably, Meta and Apple didn’t invest in any AI startups in 2023, though Meta has been active in developing its own open-source AI models and Apple acquired an AI video compression startup last year.
Below, we map out every AI company backed by big tech and their strategic venture arms in 2023 with key takeaways below.
CB Insights customers can use this search to stay updated on every big tech AI investment, including 2024 deals.
Key takeaways
1) Big tech continues to pile in on AI infrastructure, nabbing stakes in the next generation of AI startups.
As companies rush to harness AI’s potential, big tech wants to put itself right at the heart of AI value chains.
Some of the largest AI rounds backed by the group in 2023 went to leading foundation models and other development platforms: OpenAI ($10B corporate minority from Microsoft), Anthropic ($2.6B in funding over multiple rounds backed by Google and Amazon), and Databricks ($500M Series I backed by Nvidia’s NVentures with follow-on participation from AWS and Microsoft).
2) Rivalries in cloud computing drive activity, while some startups bring in multiple big tech backers to remain neutral.
Due to the capital-intensive nature of AI development, startups are linking up with big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia to access their cloud infrastructure, chips, and dollars.
In turn, big tech companies are fueling their rival cloud computing and chip businesses.
3) Healthcare and industrials lead big tech’s vertical AI investments.
Nvidia backed 8 AI startups in healthcare & life sciences in 2023, with 7 of these focusing on AI drug discovery, as the chipmaker doubles down on the sector.
Applications in materials development, manufacturing, and warehousing are also drawing the attention of big tech as the sector races to automate operations.
For example, the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund invested in AI-powered robotics safety startup Veo Robotics in April 2023. Meanwhile, just last month, Microsoft’s M12 and NVentures backed humanoid robotics startup Figure’s $675M Series B.
4) An emerging focus area is AI companions and agents.
Companies in this category like Inflection are working to make interacting with computers as conversational as it is to talk to people.
A number of companies backed by big tech in 2023, like Adept and Imbue, are building “autonomous agents” — LLM-powered bots that can independently reason and execute tasks.
In this vein, in January 2024, the Amazon Alexa Fund backed a round to AI agent startup MultiOn.
5) Nvidia bursts onto the scene.
Overall, Nvidia has ramped up its activity more significantly — from backing 5 AI startups in 2022 to 32 in 2023 — than any other tech giant as it embeds itself deeper in the generative AI ecosystem.
Apple and Meta, which historically have made fewer investments compared with other giants and do not have venture arms, did not publicly disclose any AI startup investments in 2023.
Looking ahead
Large acquisitions have been key for big tech to bring in new revenue sources as well as launch new product lines.
But with regulatory pressure hobbling big tech’s acquisition activity, expect these players to lean more heavily on AI partnerships and investments, as well as product launches, in the coming months.
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