Adept Latest AI Startup To Raise Big — Nabs $350M

Another week, another huge raise for a generative AI startup.

This week it’s Adept AI, which raised $350 million in what the company called “part of our Series B.” It was reported the new money gives the San Francisco-based startup a post-money valuation of at least $1 billion.

General Catalyst and Spark Capital led the financing. The company had previously raised a $65 million Series A.

Adept is developing AI models that cannot just respond to text commands — like a chatbot — but actually turn that command into actions. In theory, the company’s generative AI could help users do tasks from browsing the internet to navigating enterprise software tools.

“Since announcing our Series A about a year ago, we introduced ACT-1, our first large model for actions, and it’s already demonstrating cutting-edge capabilities,” a post from the company read. “It can take complex user requests across a range of software tools and execute them, even coordinating across multiple tools when needed.”

No slowing down the AI craze

The round comes despite strong headwinds, such as a drop in venture financing and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

However, nothing seems to be able to stop generative AI startups from raising large amounts of cash.

The craze started in January, with news of Microsoft’s massive $10 billion investment into OpenAI — creator of ChatGPT.

The tidal wave of funding to AI has not subsided since. Just a week ago, San Francisco-based AI startup and rival to ChatGPT, Anthropic, was reported to be raising another $300 million round at a pre-investment valuation of $4.1 billion. Spark Capital is reportedly leading the round.

That came just about a month after Anthropic raised between $300 million and $400 million from Google.

Also last week, Salesforce’s venture arm — Salesforce Ventures 1 — launched a new $250 million generative AI fund that will look at promising generative AI startups.

Despite a rocky venture market, bet on more news next week.

Further reading:

• Salesforce And Its Venture Arm Latest To Join AI Craze
• We’ve Seen This Before: Investors Take To The Next Shiny Toy — AI
• AI Startup Anthropic Raising Another $300M At $4.1B Valuation — Report

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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