In the wake of ChatGPT, early AI investments were fraught with uncertainty – nothing was known about the direction. Venture capitalists are often guided by data-driven concerns, but they found themselves in the last year still in uncharted territory at the end. Most investors turn to the foundational tools of AI: large language model (LLM) development, auxiliary tools (vector databases), open-source LLM repositories, and AI chips. For 2024, the scramble for "shovels and picks" in the AI gold rush is just the beginning.
As the AI boom continues, a new techno-economics is helping businesses develop and deploy AI-powered applications. On Forbes' sixth annual "Top 50 in Artificial Intelligence" list, this kind of cutting-edge companies are in vogue. The list, which features the most promising startups in AI, was compiled by Forbes with the help of leading industry experts and data partners Sequoia Capital and Meritech Capital.
Judging from this year's list, although the commodification of large language models in the short term is still difficult to turn around. In addition to dealing with unsustainable unit economics, companies in this space are also constrained by a shortage of computing power and fierce market competition, and their operating costs have soared several times compared to the Internet era.
The idea of diminishing marginal effects due to the scale of the global GPU shortage remains unrealistic. Add to that the lack of AI talent, skyrocketing salary requirements, and a minefield of litigation over the use of data, and AI investment becomes a high-stakes gamble.
In addition to C-end applications, there is still new hope from the field of enterprise services this year. By unlocking the puzzle of enterprise data silos, AI technology is unlocking billions of dollars in value, paving the way for efficiency and competitive advantage. With predictable processes, strict security requirements, and ample budgets, companies on the industrial side provide more application scenarios for AI.
Who will be the first to break into the lucrative market of this group of American companies?
Companies to watch in the Forbes AI 50
Abridge
Headquarters: Pennsylvania, USA
CEO: Shiv Rao
Amount raised: $212.5 million
Founded: 2018
Rao is a cardiologist by profession who founded Abridge with the goal of freeing clinicians from time-consuming paperwork (jotting down detailed notes for medical records). Abridge can record doctor-patient conversations and summarize them using artificial intelligence. It is already used by tens of thousands of clinicians, and the startup has reached a valuation of $850 million after raising more than $200 million in venture capital.
ElevenLabs
Headquarters: United Kingdom
CEO: Mati Staniszewski
Amount raised: $101 million
Founded: 2022
Hate the sound of your own speech? Just upload a piece of text, choose one of 40 pre-made voices, and let ElevenLabs' text-to-speech AI do the rest. Since its launch in January 2023, the unicorn's software has been used for a variety of purposes, including cloning existing voices (including those of famous actors), generating synthesized voices, dubbing audiobooks, and voice-overs characters from games, videos, and movies, and is now available in nearly 30 languages. Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski, two Polish engineers and childhood friends, have raised more than $100 million for their voice app.
Harvey
Headquarters: California, USA
首席执行官:Winston Vineyard
Amount raised: $106 million
Founded: 2022
Harvey has met the needs of more than 10,000 time-critical attorneys who can help them research cases, draft and review contracts, and find legal precedents. To ease the burden on legal workers, two roommates, Weinberg and Gabriel, co-founded the startup in 2022, and their AI technology is now being adopted by elite law firms such as Allen & Overy and Macfarlanes LLP. To date, the startup has raised more than $100 million, of which $80 million was raised at a valuation of $715 million at the end of 2023 from prominent tech investors Elad Gil, Kleiner Perkins, OpenAI Startup Fund, and Sequoia.
Mistral AI
Headquarters: France
CEO: Arthur Mensch
Amount raised: $527.8 million
Founded: 2023
Mistral, a high-profile competitor to OpenAI in Europe, focuses on developing free, open-source AI models. The startup, which is less than a year old, is now valued at $2 billion, with more than $500 million in venture capital from blue-chip companies like Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Microsoft, Nvidia and Salesforce also have minority stakes in the company. Mistral differentiates itself by developing small, less computationally intensive models. In February, it debuted a ChatGPT competitor, a chatbot called "LeChat."
Point
Headquarters: California, USA
首席执行官:Demi Guo
Amount raised: $55 million
Founded: 2023
With just a few clicks, anyone can use Pika's generative AI software to create videos of divers exploring underwater marine life or tigers prairing through the lush forests of India. Founded in April 2023 by two Stanford PhD students, Pika has produced 35 million videos and received $55 million in funding from prominent angel investors such as former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Quora co-founder and CEO Adam D'Angelo. The startup has a team of 13 people, mostly women, and is currently valued at $250 million.
Take
Headquarters: California, USA
首席执行官:Keith Peiris
Amount raised: $81 million
Founded: 2020
Tome uses AI models like OpenAI's GPT-4 and Meta's Llama to convert text of any length into a well-crafted presentation that can be made into a slideshow in seconds. The company's 18 million users have used it to create presentations, including speeches, post-operative instructions, and dinner invitations. A small percentage of these customers also paid for faster unlimited usage. Co-founded by Peiris and Henri Liriani (Facebook's former head of product), Tome is valued at $300 million and backed by tech billionaires including Reid Hoffman and Eric Schmidt.
(For the full selection methodology, feature stories and videos, visit forbes.com/ai50.) ）
编辑:KENRICK CAI
记者:Rashi Srivastava, Lauren Orsini和Leyeh Rosenbaum
EDITORIAL OPERATIONS: ELISABETH BRIER
Forbes China exclusive manuscript, please do not reprint without permission
Header image source: Forbes China
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