Eye On AI: Huge AI Valuation Jumps Are Here Again

This column is a look back at the week that was in AI. Read the previous one here.

Here we go again with valuations in the AI startup space.

While the first quarter saw only a single $1 billion round and a few big valuation jumps, this month has certainly brought both back to the forefront and shown that investors are still willing to say yes to a deal no matter the cost.

Just a few weeks ago, AI cloud infrastructure startup locked up a $1.1 billion round led by that values the company at $19 billion,

The new value represented an almost threefold increase from the company鈥檚 valuation just five months ago, when it was valued at $7 billion following a secondary sale, and nearly a 10x jump from its $2 billion valuation in a Series B extension last May.

Then last week it was that Paris-based 鈥� a competitor to and 鈥� was closing in on a round of about $600 million from existing investors and that would value it at $6 billion.

That鈥檚 triple what Mistral鈥檚 value was just last December when it raised approximately $415 million at a $2 billion valuation, per a .

Finally, reports have swirled in recent weeks, including one from , that 鈥檚 generative AI startup, , is closing in on a $6 billion funding round from the likes of and others that would value it at $18 billion pre-money.

Musk鈥檚 startup is only 10 months old and reportedly was originally seeking around $3 billion at a $15 billion pre-money valuation, but bumped that up due to intense investor interest.

This is no commentary on the quality of any of those companies, but when a startup can see a 10x jump in valuation in a year, or a 3x pop in about five months, it may make some quickly grab a calendar to see if this is 2020 or 2021.

It also should make some question if we truly have learned from all the mistakes investors made in that time.

Things that caught our eye and other stuff:

This may not be pure AI, but made another interesting investment this week. The co-founder 鈥� who is also an active investor in other companies鈥� backed robocar network startup through his firm. Joining Altman in the round was Japanese automaker giant . The South San Francisco-based autonomous vehicle and infrastructure developer raised a total $76 million. The round values Glydways at $350 million to $400 million, .
Healthcare continues to see its share of AI startups. This week, New York-based raised $50 million in Series B funding led by . The startup uses AI to understand patients鈥� clinical journeys and help hospitals process claims correctly in a more rapid fashion. Founded in 2020, SmarterDx has raised $71 million to date, per the company.