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Data Brief

Corporate Investors in Top U.S. AI Startups

Rebecca Kagan,

Rebecca Gelles,

and Zachary Arnold

February 2021

Corporate investors are a significant player in the U.S. AI startup ecosystem, funding 71 percent of top U.S. AI startups. The authors analyze the trends in top corporate funders and the startups receiving corporate money.

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Executive Summary

U.S. artificial intelligence startups are raising billions of dollars, including from corporate investors. While corporate acquisitions of AI startups are at an alltime high, there is little systematic analysis of corporate investment into these early-stage companies. By analyzing thousands of U.S.-based startups and their investors, we find:

  • Corporate investors are a significant player in the U.S. AI startup ecosystem.
  • Corporate investors fund top U.S. AI startups more frequently than they fund top startups in other sectors. Top AI startups also tend to have more corporate investors than other startups.
  • 71 percent of top U.S. AI startups have one or more corporate investors. Corporate investors make up 16 percent of all such investors.
  • Top U.S. AI startups have more corporate investment than leading startups in other industries.
  • GV (formerly Google Ventures) is the most active strategic corporate investor in top U.S. AI startups, followed by Intel. Wells Fargo is the most active financial corporate investor in top U.S. AI startups.
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Corporate Investors in Top U.S. AI Startups