# NVentures (Nvidia)

> Source: https://aiwiki.ai/wiki/nvidia_nventures
> Updated: 2026-06-28
> Categories: AI Companies, Venture Capital
> From AI Wiki (https://aiwiki.ai), a free encyclopedia of artificial intelligence. Quote with attribution.

**NVentures** is the corporate venture-capital arm of [Nvidia](/wiki/nvidia), the dominant supplier of graphics processors used to train and run artificial-intelligence models. Led by Mohamed "Sid" Siddeek and investing directly from Nvidia's own balance sheet rather than an external limited-partner fund, NVentures made its first commitment in September 2022 and became publicly visible as a named unit in early 2023. [1][2] Over a roughly three-year stretch from 2023 to 2026 it grew from a single disclosed deal into one of the most active corporate technology investors in the world, backing a long roster of [generative AI](/wiki/generative_ai) model labs, cloud providers, robotics companies, and chip and infrastructure startups. [1][2] Its rise has been inseparable from the broader AI buildout: many of the companies NVentures funds are also large buyers of Nvidia chips, an overlap that has drawn growing scrutiny over so-called circular financing and related-party arrangements. NVentures should be distinguished from Nvidia's much larger strategic equity stakes and anchor commitments, such as the multibillion-dollar arrangements with [OpenAI](/wiki/openai) and [Anthropic](/wiki/anthropic), which are made by the parent company rather than by the venture group, and from NVIDIA Inception, Nvidia's free, non-dilutive startup accelerator.

## What is NVentures?

NVentures is wholly owned by and funded from Nvidia. Unlike a traditional venture firm that raises capital from outside limited partners, the unit deploys money from the company's own balance sheet, which by late 2025 stood behind a corporation valued in the multitrillion-dollar range. That structure lets NVentures pursue strategic returns from companies that benefit from accelerated computing without the fundraising cycles or fixed fund sizes of an independent firm. Siddeek, who carries the title corporate vice president and head of NVentures, rejoined Nvidia in 2021 after roughly 17 years away, with prior stints that included work at SoftBank's Vision Fund. [9]

Nvidia describes the group's mandate as backing "game changers and market makers," and on its corporate blog states: "Through NVentures, we support innovators who are deeply relevant to NVIDIA. We aim to generate strong financial returns and expand the ecosystem by funding companies that use our platforms across a wide range of industries." [10] The unit emphasizes that it brings more than capital, including technical collaboration and access to Nvidia's developer and customer network. Its stated focus areas span [generative AI](/wiki/generative_ai) and large language models, enterprise AI, autonomous machines and robotics, drug discovery and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and what the company calls sustainable or accelerated computing. NVentures typically writes checks from a few million dollars up to tens of millions and usually joins as a participant or co-investor in a syndicate rather than leading the round. [10]

## When was NVentures founded?

Nvidia made venture-style investments for years, but the dedicated NVentures brand and team coalesced in the early 2020s. The unit traces its first commitment to September 2022, and the NVentures name became publicly visible in early 2023 as Nvidia ramped its activity alongside the surge of interest in generative AI that followed the launch of [ChatGPT](/wiki/chatgpt). [1][2] Siddeek has run the group throughout this period.

The early portfolio leaned heavily toward science and industrial applications of [AI agents](/wiki/ai_agents) and accelerated computing, including drug-discovery companies such as Genesis Therapeutics, Inceptive, Terray, and Generate, manufacturing startups such as Machina Labs and Seurat Technologies, and AI media and video companies such as Twelve Labs, Luma AI, and Synthesia. From this base the unit broadened sharply, adding stakes in frontier model labs, autonomous-driving systems, cloud-infrastructure providers, and quantum and fusion ventures as Nvidia's own ambitions in those areas expanded.

## How active is NVentures? Investment activity, 2023 to 2026

The growth in deal volume has been steep. NVentures recorded a single disclosed deal in 2022, then accelerated each year afterward, reaching roughly 30 deals in 2025 according to data compiled by Crunchbase. [1] Counting both NVentures and Nvidia's direct corporate investing, the company participated in about 54 venture deals in 2024 and roughly 67 in 2025, figures that placed Nvidia among the most active corporate investors in technology. [2][17]

The dollar totals grew even faster because of a small number of very large rounds. PitchBook data cited in late 2025 and early 2026 reporting put combined Nvidia and NVentures activity at about 117 investments totaling roughly $62.24 billion across 2024 and 2025, compared with 46 investments totaling about $6.09 billion in the prior two years. [2] The roughly tenfold jump in deployed capital reflects Nvidia's willingness to anchor enormous financings for model labs and data-center operators, a category distinct from the smaller venture checks that characterize most NVentures deals.

NVentures has remained selective about leading. In 2025 Nvidia disclosed a lead role in only about five rounds, roughly one in eight of the investments it backed, more often partnering with established venture firms and joining syndicates led by others. [1] Notable lead or co-lead positions in 2025 included a roughly $600 million round for the quantum-computing company Quantinuum, struck at a $10 billion pre-money valuation, a $300 million Series D for the Israeli enterprise model lab AI21 Labs, and a co-led $135 million Series B for the robotics-software company Skild AI. [1][16]

## What companies has NVentures invested in?

NVentures and its parent have backed a wide span of AI companies, from foundation-model labs to specialized cloud and robotics startups. The table below lists representative deals; figures reflect the size of the overall round and Nvidia's role as reported by the companies and by outlets including TechCrunch, CNBC, and Crunchbase. Many of these are participations rather than lead investments, and several of the largest commitments, such as those to [OpenAI](/wiki/openai) and [Anthropic](/wiki/anthropic), are strategic moves by Nvidia the corporation rather than NVentures venture checks. [2]

| Company | Round and year | Nvidia / NVentures role |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [OpenAI](/wiki/openai) | ~$6.6B round, 2024; later equity stake in 2026 | Strategic participant; later large equity stake |
| [Anthropic](/wiki/anthropic) | Strategic partnership, November 2025 | Up to $10B strategic commitment |
| [CoreWeave](/wiki/coreweave) | $221M round, 2023; ongoing stake | Investor and major customer / supplier |
| [Mistral AI](/wiki/mistral_ai) | ~1.7B-euro round, 2025 | Participant |
| [Reflection AI](/wiki/reflection_ai) | $130M Series A, 2024; later $2B round | Participant via NVentures |
| Wayve | $1.05B round, 2024 | Participant |
| Figure AI | $675M Series B, 2024; $1B+ Series C, 2025 | Participant |
| Nscale | ~$1.1B round, 2025 | Participant |
| xAI | ~$6B round, 2024 | Participant |
| [Scale AI](/wiki/scale_ai) | $1B round, 2024 | Co-investor |
| Cohere | $500M Series D, 2024 | Participant |
| Crusoe | $1.4B Series E, 2024 | Participant |
| Together AI | $305M Series B, 2025 | Participant |
| Quantinuum | ~$600M round, 2025 | Lead via NVentures |
| AI21 Labs | $300M Series D, 2025 | Lead via NVentures |

Beyond these, Nvidia and NVentures have backed names including Inflection (a 2023 round in which Nvidia was a lead), Thinking Machines Lab, Cursor maker Anysphere, Perplexity, Poolside, Lambda, Black Forest Labs, Runway, Sakana AI, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, and Skild AI, among many others. [2][16] The breadth illustrates a thesis that touches nearly every layer of the AI stack that consumes Nvidia silicon.

## How is NVentures different from NVIDIA Inception?

NVentures is frequently confused with NVIDIA Inception, but the two are separate programs with different mechanics. NVentures is Nvidia's corporate venture-capital fund: it makes selective equity investments, taking ownership stakes in a relatively small number of companies and deploying real capital, typically a few million to tens of millions of dollars per deal. [10] Inception, by contrast, is a free, non-dilutive accelerator that takes no equity and charges no fees; it has accepted more than 40,000 AI startups worldwide and offers members benefits such as preferred GPU pricing, cloud credits, technical training, and co-marketing rather than cash. [12] In short, NVentures buys equity in a curated handful of companies, while Inception provides broad, no-cost ecosystem support to tens of thousands.

## Strategic rationale and scrutiny over circular and related-party deals

The strategic logic of NVentures is straightforward: by funding startups that build on its chips, Nvidia helps seed and accelerate demand for its own products while positioning itself to share in the upside of the companies it enables. Nvidia executives have argued the strategy augments the company's own research and extends its reach into emerging applications of accelerated computing. Critics counter that the same overlap creates a feedback loop in which Nvidia helps finance the very customers who then buy its chips, potentially flattering demand signals.

This concern, often labeled circular financing or vendor financing, intensified through 2025 and into 2026 as Nvidia struck a series of large arrangements that combined investment with compute purchases. The most prominent involved [OpenAI](/wiki/openai): in September 2025 Nvidia announced a letter of intent to invest up to $100 billion progressively as OpenAI deployed gigawatts of Nvidia systems. [4][6] That figure was never finalized as announced. Nvidia's chief financial officer, Colette Kress, said in December 2025 that no definitive agreement had been reached, and the company's securities filings cautioned there was no assurance the investment would be completed on the expected terms. [5] What ultimately closed was a roughly $30 billion Nvidia equity stake, reported as part of an OpenAI funding round of around $110 billion announced in late February 2026. A separate November 2025 deal saw Nvidia commit up to $10 billion to [Anthropic](/wiki/anthropic) alongside a $5 billion investment from Microsoft, with Anthropic committing to large Azure compute purchases, a structure that critics again read as money flowing in a loop among interdependent parties. [7][8]

The relationship with cloud provider [CoreWeave](/wiki/coreweave) drew similar attention. Nvidia held a stake in CoreWeave, supplied it chips, and also agreed to purchase cloud capacity from it, while CoreWeave in turn signed large contracts with OpenAI. Skeptics, including the investor Michael Burry and short-seller Jim Chanos, compared the web of equity, supply, and purchase commitments to the vendor financing of the late-1990s telecom bubble, with Burry likening Nvidia's role to that of Cisco at the turn of the millennium and questioning whether complex financing was obscuring how Nvidia hardware was funded and held across balance sheets. [13]

Nvidia pushed back forcefully. In November 2025 it circulated a memo to analysts, later published in full by the research firm Bernstein, that named Burry directly and argued its strategic investments amounted to only a small fraction of its revenue and that AI startups raised the bulk of their capital from outside investors. [14] The company maintains that its venture and strategic activity reflects genuine ecosystem growth rather than manufactured demand. [15] The debate remained unresolved as of mid-2026, with NVentures continuing to invest at a brisk pace while observers watched whether the AI buildout would justify the capital flowing through Nvidia and the companies it backs.

## References

1. Crunchbase News, "Nvidia Sustains High Startup Investment Pace," September 2025. https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/nvda-nventure-startup-investments-hard-tech-ai-fusion/
2. TechCrunch, "Nvidia's AI empire: A look at its top startup investments," January 2, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/02/nvidias-ai-empire-a-look-at-its-top-startup-investments/
3. CNBC, "These are the European startups Nvidia backed in 2025," January 26, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/26/nvidia-ai-startup-investments-europe-chips-jensen-huang.html
4. CNBC, "Nvidia's $100 billion OpenAI deal showcases chipmaker's growing investment portfolio," September 26, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/26/nvidias-investment-portfolio.html
5. Fortune, "Nvidia CFO admits the $100 billion OpenAI megadeal 'still' isn't 'definitive'," December 2, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/12/02/nvidia-openai-deal-not-signed-yet-100-billion-rally-colette-kress/
6. NVIDIA Newsroom, "OpenAI and NVIDIA Announce Strategic Partnership to Deploy 10 Gigawatts of NVIDIA Systems," September 22, 2025. https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/openai-and-nvidia-announce-strategic-partnership-to-deploy-10gw-of-nvidia-systems
7. Anthropic, "Microsoft, NVIDIA and Anthropic announce strategic partnerships," November 18, 2025. https://www.anthropic.com/news/microsoft-nvidia-anthropic-announce-strategic-partnerships
8. CNBC, "Anthropic valued in range of $350 billion following investment deal with Microsoft, Nvidia," November 18, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/18/anthropic-ai-azure-microsoft-nvidia.html
9. PitchBook, "Q&A: As Nvidia soars, NVentures' Sid Siddeek takes the long view." https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/interview-nvidia-nventures-sid-siddeek-ai
10. NVIDIA Blog, "How NVIDIA Fuels the AI Revolution With Investments in Game Changers and Market Makers." https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-investments/
11. Global Venturing, "Nvidia's venture arm tackles biotech's $1bn drug discovery problem," Sid Siddeek interview. https://globalventuring.com/corporate/healthcare/nventures-sid-siddeek-interview/
12. NVIDIA, "Inception Program for Startups." https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/startups/
13. Fortune, "'The Big Short' investor Michael Burry on an AI bubble," November 24, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/11/24/big-short-investor-michael-burry-nvidia-cisco-ai-bubble/
14. CNBC, "Nvidia name-checks Michael Burry in secret memo pushing back on AI bubble allegations," November 25, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/25/nvidia-pushes-back-on-charges-that-ai-investment-is-a-bubble.html
15. Axios, "Nvidia's massive investments are shaping the AI bubble debate," December 1, 2025. https://www.axios.com/2025/12/01/nvidia-ai-investments-openai-anthropic
16. Quantinuum / Honeywell press release, "Honeywell Announces $600 Million Capital Raise For Quantinuum," September 4, 2025. https://www.quantinuum.com/press-releases/honeywell-announces-600-million-capital-raise-for-quantinuum-at-10b-pre-money-equity-valuation-to-advance-quantum-computing-at-scale
17. ION Analytics, "Dealspeak North America: NVIDIA's venture investments surge with AI boom." https://ionanalytics.com/insights/mergermarket/dealspeak-north-america-nvidias-venture-investments-surge-with-ai-boom/