Radical Ventures' AI neolabs raise $24 bn in two quarters, nearly five times OpenAI and Anthropic pre‑ChatGPT
anthropic openai
| Source: Techmeme | Original article
AI labs backed by Radical Ventures raised $24 billion in the past two quarters, nearly five times OpenAI and
Radical Ventures, an AI‑native venture firm, says the wave of “neolabs” – start‑ups building large‑scale models without a commercial product – has secured about $24 billion in the last two quarters. That sum is roughly five times the pre‑ChatGPT capital raised by OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the Financial Times.
The funding surge is striking because many of the labs still lack a market, a product or any revenue. Yet investors continue to pour billions into them, often with billion‑dollar first rounds. Over the next three years, more than 40 such NeoLabs are projected to attract $40 billion in total, a pattern the firm’s own market map highlights as evidence that frontier‑scale ambition is no longer the exclusive domain of established players.
Strategic backers are also lining up. NVIDIA emerges as the most active corporate investor, outpacing even large institutional funds such as a16z. The firm’s involvement underscores a broader industry bet that early access to cutting‑edge hardware and expertise will translate into future dominance, even if the labs themselves have yet to demonstrate a viable business.
Why it matters is twofold. First, the sheer scale of capital flowing into unproven ventures could reshape the AI ecosystem, accelerating breakthroughs but also inflating valuations and concentrating risk. Second, the trend raises questions about due diligence and the metrics investors use when products are absent, echoing recent concerns about AI projects that have slipped into regulatory scrutiny.
Going forward, the sector will be watched for signs of commercial traction: whether any NeoLab can turn research into a marketable service, how subsequent funding rounds evolve, and if regulators or larger tech firms intervene to curb speculative excess. The next quarter’s capital flows and early product announcements will likely set the tone for whether the “neolab” boom proves sustainable or fizzles under its own hype.
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