Recently, Sakana AI, an AI research and development company headquartered in Tokyo, announced the successful completion of over $100 million in Series A funding. The primary investors in this round include New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital, with NVIDIA also participating.
Sakana AI aims to advance AI research through nature-inspired intelligence and foundational models, particularly focusing on evolutionary optimization and sparsity.
Additionally, Sakana AI's collaboration with NVIDIA will provide access to advanced GPU technology, which is crucial for achieving its development goals. Through this partnership, Sakana AI will also gain access to data centers in Japan, enhancing its local experimentation capabilities and driving AI innovation.
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, stated that countries are actively embracing sovereign AI to capture and encode their data, culture, and language through unique large language models. He noted that Sakana AI is democratizing AI in Japan by leveraging NVIDIA's accelerated computing platform to develop cutting-edge foundational models, aiming to accelerate the process of scientific discovery.
The collaboration between Sakana AI and NVIDIA focuses on three main areas: advancing research, utilizing NVIDIA's data center infrastructure, and enhancing Japan's AI community. Sakana AI also plans to bridge the AI talent gap in Japan through events and university outreach, fostering local talent development.
Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, stating that while many global labs are striving to catch up using the same technologies to train foundational models, Sakana AI is charting an innovative path. He is excited about the collaboration and looks forward to advancing this journey with NVIDIA.
Sakana AI's goal is to address significant challenges faced by Japan, such as population decline and geopolitical tensions. The company aims to establish a world-class AI lab, developing technologies that support Japan's future competitiveness and help solve pressing national issues.
With this Series A funding, Sakana AI will invest in talent and infrastructure to further its mission of creating sustainable and efficient AI technologies.
Key Points:
🌟 Sakana AI successfully completed over $100 million in Series A funding, with major investors including NEA, Khosla Ventures, and NVIDIA.
🤝 Sakana AI has established a partnership with NVIDIA to jointly advance AI research in Japan and enhance local experimentation capabilities.
🚀 The company plans to address the shortage of AI talent in Japan through events and university outreach.