U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) startups raised more than $150 billion (about 215 trillion won) this year. That is the largest amount on record. The concentration of investment in large AI startups such as OpenAI and Anthropic was pronounced.
The Financial Times (FT) cited data from market research firm PitchBook on the 28th (local time) and stated accordingly that U.S. AI startups raised $150 billion this year, far surpassing the transfer record high of $92 billion (about 132 trillion won) in 2021.
This year's AI startup fundraising was inflated as money flowed to a few corporations. A representative example is the $41 billion (about 59 trillion won) raised by OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, led by Japan's SoftBank. Anthropic raised $13 billion (about 19 trillion won), and Scale AI received a $14 billion (about 20 trillion won) investment from Meta, Facebook's parent company.
In addition, coding agent corporations Anysphere, AI search engine Perplexity, and Thinking Machines Lab raised funds multiple times from venture capital (VC) this year.
FT reported that as concerns grow about overinvestment in AI infrastructure, the VC industry is advising AI startups to stockpile enough cash and build "fortress balance sheets" to prepare for a likely deterioration in investor sentiment next year.
Ryan Biggs, co-head of venture investing at Franklin Templeton, said, "The greatest risk (a startup) could face is that the funding environment freezes before sufficient capital is raised, and as a result the business collapses entirely," adding, "Conversely, even if you accept a bit of equity dilution, it won't be a problem if the business succeeds."
Startups typically raise funds once every two to three years, but recently, as high-performing AI startups have returned to the market within a few months, analysts say smaller startups are being shut out of fundraising.
The unprecedented speed at which large AI startups are growing is also cited as a factor fueling the concentration of investment.
Anysphere, the maker of the coding tool "Cursor," had annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $1 billion (about 1.4 trillion won) as of last month, about 20 times higher than at the start of the year. On the back of that growth, Anysphere's valuation at the time of fundraising in the same period surged from $2.6 billion (about 3.7 trillion won) to $27 billion (about 39 trillion won).
Perplexity also raised money four times this year even as its management said no additional capital was needed.
Analysts also say that large AI startups, including OpenAI, are stockpiling cash in advance in anticipation of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In particular, if investor sentiment cools next year and small startups struggle to raise funds, the outlook is that large startups will actively move to acquire these corporations.