September 05, 2024 – According to Bloomberg, NVIDIA Corporation has participated in a funding round of over $100 million for Sakana AI, a startup in Tokyo, Japan. This marks one of the larger investments made by the American chipmaker in the emerging AI sector of Japan.
The report stated that Sakana AI completed its Series A funding on Wednesday, led by NEA, Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital, with NVIDIA as a participant. Sakana AI plans to collaborate with NVIDIA on local research, data center access, and the development of the AI community.
Additionally, Nikkei Asia reported that Sakana AI raised approximately 20 billion yen (about 137million)intheSeriesAfunding.NVIDIA′sinvestmentofseveralbillionyen(equivalenttotensofmillionsofdollars)appearstobethelargestcontribution,makingthecompanyasignificantshareholderinSakanaAI.Followingthisfundinground,SakanaAI′svaluationisexpectedtoexceed1 billion.
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, expressed his admiration for Sakana AI’s efforts to promote AI in Japan. “Countries around the world are embracing sovereign AI through their unique large language models, capturing and codifying their data, culture, and language,” Huang said in a statement. “The team at Sakana AI is helping to drive the adoption of AI in Japan.”
