A key part of the development of the multiple segments in the tech industry is funding. The huge potential that artificial intelligence has shown immediately attracted billions of dollars in investments. In fact, a recent study confirms that investment in AI has surged while funding to the general tech industry has actually declined.
Investments in AI-related projects surged last year; investments in general tech industry declined
Market analysis firm Dealroom shared its latest report regarding tech industry funding. Yoram Wijngaarde, founder of Dealroom, found that AI startups will receive around $110 billion in investments by 2024. This represents a 62% increase compared to investment in the same segment in 2023. On the other hand, tech companies in general are receiving funding worth $227 billion, which is 12% less than in 2023.
“This is the biggest wave ever by absolute amounts invested,” the report states. “There’s never been anything like it,” Wijngaarde added.
A potential reason behind this reality is the number of segments derived from artificial intelligence. Investments are not just going into a couple of niches, such as app or hardware development. The report reflects this in the variety of AI-related areas that received large investments throughout 2024. Dealroom lists names like Anthropic (LLMs, Gen AI), Waymo (autonomous driving), Anduril (defense), xAI (applications), Databricks (data processing and management with a strong focus on AI), and Vantage (data centers and infrastructure). All of these companies were in the top 10 fundraisers last year.
OpenAI is probably the most representative name in the AI industry. Its ChatGPT service was the main driver of the current artificial intelligence revolution. However, the firm was not the one that raised the most funding in 2024. That spot goes to Databricks, which got investments equivalent to about $10 billion. Meanwhile, OpenAI got investments for about $6.6 billion. That said, ChatGPT’s parent company remains the top fundraiser of AI investments to date, amassing around $20 billion. Plus, there’s another $40 billion in development.
