USA biggest tech funding rounds of 2024: Which startups raised highest funding?

Venture funding globally reached $66.5 billion in Q3 2024, reflecting a 16% decline compared to the previous quarter, according to Crunchbase. Despite the overall drop, the United States displayed resilience, particularly in the AI and hardware sectors. AI startups led the charge, attracting nearly $19 billion — accounting for 28% of all global venture funding and cementing the sector’s rapid growth since OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT.

Healthcare and biotech also saw significant activity, raising over $15 billion. This growth was fueled by innovations in precision medicine and telehealth solutions. Meanwhile, the hardware sector drew over $13 billion as investments surged in semiconductor advancements and next-generation computing.

The largest funding rounds emphasized a pivot toward AI-driven applications, robotics, and advanced materials. These high-value deals highlight a sustained interest in transformative technologies, even as total venture funding experiences a downturn.

Looking ahead, the robust activity in US-based AI and hardware ventures underscores the country’s dominance in cutting-edge technology. While venture funding has cooled compared to 2023, strategic investments in impactful sectors like AI and healthcare indicate promising growth opportunities. Below, we have curated the top funding rounds raised by US companies this year, offering insights into the trends shaping the market.

Databricks

Founders: Ali Ghodsi, Matei Zaharia, Reynold Xin, Ion Stoica, Patrick Wendell, Andy Konwinski, Arsalan Tavakoli-Shiraji
Founded: 2013
Total Funding: $14 billion

San Francisco-based AI startup Databricks provides a cloud-based platform enabling companies to harness the power of AI, including data management solutions. The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform integrates generative AI and democratizes access to data and AI, simplifying analytics, machine learning, and agentic AI applications. Built on open data formats and architectural standards, the platform improves accuracy, helping organizations better manage costs and risks.

Recently, Databricks secured a historic $10 billion in financing, bringing its valuation to $62 billion. This funding round was led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners, and WCM Investment Management. Additional contributors included existing investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and new investors such as ICONIQ Growth, MGX, Sands Capital, and Wellington Management.

Databricks plans to use this capital to develop new AI products, pursue strategic acquisitions, and significantly expand its international go-to-market operations.

Open AI

Founders: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Wojciech Zaremba
Founded: 2015
Total Funding: $19 billion

OpenAI is at the forefront of advancing text and image generation research while addressing ethical considerations. The organization focuses on developing AI systems that prioritize safety, fairness, and transparency. Its research explores generative models and ways to align AI with human values. OpenAI’s most notable product, ChatGPT, has revolutionized the AI industry.

In October, OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in new funding, bringing its post-money valuation to $157 billion, making it one of the world’s most valuable private companies. This funding came from multiple rounds this year and will be used to expand OpenAI’s research into cutting-edge AI technologies, enhance its computational infrastructure, and create more accessible AI tools for individuals and businesses.

X AI

Founder: Elon Musk
Founded: 2023
Total Funding: $12 billion

xAI was established to shape the future of artificial intelligence and launched its first AI product in the same year it was founded. The company introduced the Grok-1.5 model, known for its enhanced long-context capabilities, and the Grok-1.5V model, designed for advanced image recognition. Grok, xAI’s generative AI model and a competitor to ChatGPT, powers several features on X (formerly Twitter), which Elon Musk acquired. These include a chatbot available to X Premium subscribers and select free users in certain regions. xAI aims to seamlessly integrate advanced AI tools into X’s ecosystem, enhancing user experience and ensuring safety.

Recently, xAI secured $6 billion in funding from prominent investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Qatar Investment Authority. The company is reportedly targeting a $50 billion valuation, doubling its value from just six months ago.

Waymo

Founders: Anthony Levandowski, Sebastian Thrun
Founded: 2009
Total Funding: $11.1 billion

Waymo, an autonomous vehicle company and competitor to Tesla, was originally launched as part of Google X, Alphabet’s innovation division. It pioneered autonomous vehicle technology by leveraging machine learning, advanced sensor systems, and extensive real-world testing to develop one of the most sophisticated self-driving systems. Waymo’s mission is to provide safe, affordable self-driving transportation to everyone, with its operations expanding beyond ride-hailing into autonomous logistics and freight services. Currently, the company is testing its technology under various weather conditions and in complex urban environments, including Buffalo, New York City, and Washington, DC.

In October, Waymo raised $5.6 billion in Series C funding. This round was led by Alphabet and included participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Perry Creek, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price. The funding will be used to grow Waymo’s market presence and support the launch of its robotaxi service in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco by 2025.

Anthropic

Founders: Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei
Founded: 2021
Total Funding: $11.8 billion

Anthropic is an AI safety and research company, positioned as a rival to OpenAI. It developed Claude, a language model named after Claude Shannon, the “father of information theory.” Claude is designed to be safer and more controllable than conventional language models, focusing on ethical decision-making and reducing harmful outcomes. The model is tailored for natural language processing tasks and has undergone multiple iterations, with each version improving its safety and capabilities. Anthropic has also partnered with Google to advance the development of safe and responsible AI.

Last month, Amazon Web Services (AWS) invested $4 billion in Anthropic, increasing Amazon’s total funding in the company to $8 billion. This strategic partnership aims to develop scalable cloud technology and marks the beginning of a transformative phase in AI research and deployment.

Anduril

Founder: Palmer Luckey
Founded: 2017
Total Funding: $3.7 billion

Anduril is a defense technology unicorn specializing in autonomous drones and sensors for military applications. The company develops advanced defense systems for the US and allied nations, with products ranging from surveillance towers to drones. By integrating AI and commercially developed technologies into its hardware platforms, Anduril delivers cutting-edge solutions for defense missions. Its Arsenal platform is a software-defined manufacturing system optimized for the mass production of autonomous systems and weapons.

In a Series F funding round, Anduril raised $1.5 billion at a valuation of $14 billion. The round was co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Sands Capital, with participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Counterpoint Global, Baillie Gifford, Altimeter, and Franklin Venture Partners. The company plans to use the funding to scale its operations, including expanding its workforce, improving processes, upgrading tooling, enhancing supply chain resilience, and growing its infrastructure.

Epic Games

CEO: Tim Sweeney
Founded: 1991
Total Funding: $8.6 billion

Epic Games is an interactive entertainment company and a leading provider of 3D engine technology. It is best known for Fortnite, one of the world’s largest games, boasting over 350 million accounts and 2.5 billion friend connections. The company also develops Unreal Engine, a cutting-edge tool that powers top-tier games and is widely used across industries such as film, television, architecture, automotive, manufacturing, and simulation. Through Unreal Engine, Epic Games Store, and Epic Online Services, Epic provides a comprehensive digital ecosystem for developers and creators to build, distribute, and manage games and other digital content.

Earlier this year, The Walt Disney Company invested $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games, marking Disney’s largest venture into the gaming space. This collaboration is set to create new opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop, and interact with content, characters, and stories from Disney’s iconic brands and franchises.

Scale AI

Founders: Alexandr Wang, Lucy Guo
Founded: 2016
Total Funding: $1.6 billion

Scale AI specializes in delivering high-quality data for AI development. Using a proprietary data engine, the company powers advanced models and provides organizations with a clear roadmap for implementing AI. Its solutions are utilized by industry leaders such as Meta, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, OpenAI, General Motors, Toyota Research Institute, the U.S. Army, and the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit. Scale AI supports AI applications in areas like self-driving cars, mapping, AR/VR, and robotics by providing top-tier training data.

In May, Scale AI raised $1 billion in Series F funding led by Accel, with contributions from Y Combinator, Nat Friedman, Index Ventures, Founders Fund, Coatue, Thrive Capital, Spark Capital, NVIDIA, Tiger Global Management, Greenoaks, Wellington Management, and others. The round also included investments from Cisco Investments, DFJ Growth, Intel Capital, ServiceNow Ventures, AMD Ventures, WCM, Amazon, Elad Gil, and Meta.

The company plans to use the funding to enhance its capabilities and expand its offerings for both public and private sector evaluations.

AlphaSense

Founders: Jack Kokko, Raj Neervannan
Founded: 2011
Total Funding: $1.3 billion

AlphaSense, a New York-based AI-driven market intelligence and search platform, empowers professionals to make smarter business decisions by delivering insights from an extensive range of public and private content. This includes news, event transcripts, company filings, expert call transcripts, trade journals, and equity research. By integrating strategic data points with a machine learning pipeline, AlphaSense provides deep insights into business and finance analytics, offering actionable intelligence to its users.

In June, AlphaSense raised $650 million in funding, valuing the company at $4 billion. The round was co-led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners, with additional participation from J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Blue Owl, Alkeon Capital, Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG, and Goldman Sachs Alternatives.

The investment will enable AlphaSense to further enhance its platform and expand its capabilities, reinforcing its position as a leader in AI-driven market intelligence.

Perplexity

Founders: Arvind Srinivas, Dennis Yarats, Johnny Ho, Andy Konwinski
Founded: 2022
Total Funding: $915 million

Perplexity AI is an AI-powered search engine that combines ChatGPT with the Google search engine. The platform’s AI provides summaries that include source citations from websites and articles. Users can ask follow-up questions to dive deeper into specific topics, offering a more interactive experience than traditional search engines. Perplexity AI’s unique chatbot-like interface allows users to pose questions in natural language, making it easier to access information.

Recently, Perplexity AI raised $500 million in its fourth funding round led by IVP, tripling its valuation to $9 billion. The company also announced the acquisition of Carbon, a small Seattle-based startup. Previously, Perplexity received an investment from SoftBank Group Vision Fund 2, further boosting its growth and development in the AI-driven search space.