Nvidia has arguably been the largest benefactor of the euphoria around artificial intelligence.
And they’ve also been making waves by deploying capital at a rapid pace into startups and growth companies.
But there is one area in particular that the chip maker keeps making big bets on: biotech.
What’s happening:
- Nvidia drew a lot of attention from the biotech world when they put $50 million into Recursion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RXRX) which sent Recursion stock soaring, nearly doubling on the news
- However, that was not Nvidia’s first foray into biotech investing, nor would it be their last
- Nvidia participated in the $200 million Series B raise for Genesis Therapeutics, a biotech company that leverages AI to develop medicines for severe diseases. a16Z, Blackrock, and Menlo Ventures also participated
- Superluminal Medicines, a Boston based biology company, just saw Nvidia back their $33 million seed round to build a machine learning platform to design selective compounds with precise therapeutic effect
Why it matters:
- While much of the excitement around AI focuses on its implications for technology, it is clear Nvidia sees enormous potential for AI transforming medicine, biotech and healthcare
- Having Nvidia as an anchor investor in emerging startups and growth companies in biotech could enable accelerated innovation, as it stands to reason Nvidia portfolio companies will get first access to groundbreaking hardware for AI and machine learning
Going deeper:
- Nvidia has also made a number of strategic investments in leading edge healthcare companies that are not strictly biotech
- Flywheel, a Minneapolis based company, saw Nvidia lead their $54 million Series D round to advance their medical imaging and AI platform. Microsoft also participated in the round
- Moon Surgical, a healthcare company founded in Paris who builds robotics meant to assist with surgeries, saw Nvidia co-lead their $55.4 million funding round
