These 12 VC firms have most actively invested in early-stage AI startups over the past 20 years

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Artificial intelligence is one of the buzziest technologies of the past 20 years.
Since 2000, investors have poured roughly $407 billion into AI startups, per data from PitchBook.
In that time frame, the top 12 VC firms most active in early-stage AI investing by deal count have collectively closed a total of 708 Series A and B rounds, according to the data analytics firm.
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Over the past two decades, artificial intelligence has quickly become one of the most buzzy technologies.

Giants like IBM have doubled-down on AI-backed offerings, while a rush of startups have emerged that are trying to use the tech to overhaul operations ranging from stocking shelves to supply chain negotiations.

Along with that has come a bonanza of venture capital funding that has created so-called unicorns like Indigo Ag, UiPath, and SenseTime. In the past 20 years, investors have poured roughly $407 billion into AI startups, per data firm PitchBook.

Since 2000, the top 12 VC firms most active in early-stage AI investing by deal count have collectively closed a total of 708 Series A and B rounds, according to research from the data analytics firm provided to Business Insider (the rounds that fit PitchBook’s criteria for “early-stage”).

Below is a snapshot of each of the dozen firms, including well-known names like Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, and GV.

Plug and Play

Headquarters: Silicon Valley, California

Total funds under management: Over $20 million (Per Crunchbase)

AI-related startups in the portfolio: Sentience, Commerce.AI, PROME, AutoX, Braiq, Auro Robotics, XNOR.AI, Reality AI, Plus AI

Firm’s notable exits: Vudu (acquired by Fandago in 2020 for an undisclosed sum), LendingClub (IPO’ed in 2014), PayPal (acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion)

Right Side Capital Management

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Total funds under management: $80 million

AI-related startups in the portfolio: AI-Tech Systems, EXG, Hilo, mettleAI, TecTransit

Firm’s notable exits: PillPack (acquired by Amazon in 2018 for $1 billion), Appetas (purchased by Google in 2014 for an undisclosed sum), Polymorph (acquired by Walmart in 2014 for an undisclosed sum), Poptip (acquired by Palantir in 2014 for an undisclosed sum), tbh (acquired by Facebook in 2017)

Khosla Ventures

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Total funds under management: Over $5 billion

AI-related startups in the portfolio: Berkshire Grey, Open AI, Vicarious, Codota, Vectra AI, Voyage

Firm’s notable exits: IfOnly (purchased by Mastercard in 2020 for an undisclosed sum), Nutanix (IPO’ed in 2016), Yammer (purchased by Microsoft in 2012 for $1.2 billion)

GV (formerly Google Ventures)

Headquarters: Mountain View, California

Total funds under management: Over $4.5 billion

AI-related startups in the portfolio: Abundant Robotics, Clarifai, Determined AI, Gitlab, insitro, RightHand Robotics, Snorkel AI, Viz.ai

Firm’s notable exits: Jet (acquired by Walmart in 2016 for $3.3 billion), Nest (acquired by Google in 2014 for $3.2 billion), ThousandEyes (purchased by Cisco in 2020 for an undisclosed sum), Flatiron Health (purchased by Roche in 2018 for $1.9 billion), CTRL-Labs (purchased by Facebook in 2019 for an undisclosed sum)

DCVC

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Total funds under management: Over $2 billion

AI-related startups in the portfolio: Atomwise, Feedzai, Jupiter Intelligence, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, X-37, Vicarious

Firm’s notable exits: Fliptop (acquired by LinkedIn in 2015 for an undisclosed sum), Firebase (acquired by Google in 2014 for an undisclosed sum), Timeful (acquired by Google in 2015 for an undisclosed sum), Parse (acquired by Facebook in 2013 for an undisclosed sum)

Andreessen Horowitz

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Total funds under management: $12 billion

AI-related startups in the portfolio: Genesis Therapeutics, TradeBlock, Doxel, Dispatch, Oasis Labs

Firm’s notable exits: Okta (IPO’ed in 2017), Asana (went public in 2020), Flatiron Health (acquired by Roche in 2018 for $1.9 billion), Groupon (IPO’ed in 2011), GitHub (acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion), Lyft (IPO’ed in 2019)

New Enterprise Associates

NEA

Headquarters: Chevy Chase, Maryland

Total funds under management: $24 billion

AI-related startups in the portfolio: DataRobot, Bright Health, Databricks, Built Robotics

Firm’s notable exits: CloudFlare (IPO’ed in 2019), Uber (IPO’ed in 2019), Groupon (IPO’ed in 2011), Workday (IPO’ed in 2012), MongoDB (IPO’ed in 2017)

Lux Capital Management

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Total funds under management: Over $2.4 billion

AI-related startups in the portfolio: Bright Machines, clarifai, Deep Sentinel, Covariant, Rigetti

Firm’s notable exits: CTRL-Labs (purchased by Facebook in 2019 for an undisclosed sum), Nervana Systems (acquired by Intel in 2016 for an undisclosed sum), AltspaceVR (acquired by Microsoft in 2017 for an undisclosed sum)

Intel Capital

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California

Total funds under management: Declined to disclose

AI-related startups in the portfolio: BabbleLabs, Bossa Nova, Element AI, Healx, Landing AI, Horizon Robotics,

Firm’s notable exits: RedHat (acquired by IBM in 2018 for $34 billion), MongoDB (IPO’ed in 2017), DocuSign (IPO’ed in 2018), VMWare (acquired by Dell in 2016 for $67 billion)

Lightspeed Venture Partners

LSVP

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Total funds under management: $4.2 billion

AI-related startups in the portfolio: Apex.AI, Docker, DataFleets, Kodiak Robotics, Plus.AI

Firm’s notable exits: Nutanix (IPO’ed in 2016), Zscaler (IPO’ed in 2018), StitchFix (IPO’ed in 2016), MuleSoft (acquired by Salesforce in 2016 for $6.5 billion)

First Round Capital

Brett Berson is a partner at First Round.

First Round

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Total funds under management: Over $738 million (Per Crunchbase)

AI-related startups in the portfolio: Beautiful AI, Naborly, Suki, Aisera, Planet Labs

Firm’s notable exits: Blue Apron (IPO’ed in 2017), HotelTonight (acquired by Airbnb in 2019 for $400 million), Mint (purchased by Intuit in 2009 for $170 million), Uber (IPO’ed in 2019), Flatiron Health (purchased by Roche in 2018 for $1.9 billion)