Amazon throws billions at an OpenAI rival

Plus, battery investment gets supercharged September 26, 2023 Hi, {NAME}. We promise we didn’t mean for this to turn into another AI-obsessed edition of the newsletter, but when tech giants are literally throwing billions of dollars at artificial intelligence startups, we have to take notice. The latest is [Amazon]( which is [investing as much as $4 billion]( into one of [OpenAI]( rivals, marking the second-largest venture funding deal this year. We also look at [SoftBank]( self-described [AI offensive]( and ponder whether an AI tool can help you [dream up your next billion-dollar business idea](. ⚡️ [Battery investment gets supercharged]( But first, let’s look at batteries. It seems battery startups lately are powering up with giant funding rounds at an unusually rapid pace. In roughly the past month alone, we’ve seen three financings of more than $1 billion, including to the battery recycling startup founded by [Tesla]( former CTO. Why are investors [suddenly so fired up about batteries]( Related Crunchbase Pro list: [Battery-Related Venture Funding]( 🤑 [Amazon raises stakes in AI battle with $4B for Anthropic]( [Amazon]( is investing as much as $4 billion into [Anthropic]( a generative AI rival to [Microsoft]( [OpenAI]( and [Google]( Bard, as the tech giants battle for supremacy in artificial intelligence. 🧠[Can AI brainstorm your next billion-dollar business idea?]( Can [ChatGPT]( or another AI tool dream up the next billion-dollar business idea? Business strategist [Dan Kraemer]( who’s worked with brands such as [Nike]( and [FedEx]( to help them create new products from scratch, says he thinks AI can — and will — invent the next [Airbnb](. Here’s how. 🤖 [How real is SoftBank’s AI offensive?]( [SoftBank]( has had some big hits — [Arm]( [Uber]( and [Slack]( come to mind — but major misses ([WeWork]( [Zume]( [Katerra]( [the list goes on …]( as well. So one could be forgiven for being a little skeptical about its latest pronouncement about the AI revolution. [We look at where SoftBank and its Vision Fund have actually been placing bets on artificial intelligence](. Related Crunchbase Pro list: [SoftBank Vision Fund Investments]( 🏅 [Top 10 deals: Another huge week for AI]( We know, we know. You’re getting tired of reading about AI. But investors didn’t seem to get the memo: Last week, [three of the top four largest U.S. startup funding deals]( went to companies doing things with artificial intelligence, including a $280 million round to an AI-powered mapping company. The deal was led by, you guessed it, [SoftBank](. Recent Investments [Dollarama]( [$500M]( / [Post-IPO Debt]( Dollarama is a corporation that primarily operates budget retail outlets. Categories: Consumer Goods • Financial Services • Retail Founders: [Larry Rossy]( [Sunnova]( [$400M]( / [Post-IPO Debt]( Sunnova is an Energy as a Service (EaaS) company that offers residential solar power and energy storage solutions. Categories: Clean Energy • Energy • Renewable Energy • Solar Founders: [John Berger]( [Jordan Fruge]( [Lynda Attaway]( [BridgeBio Pharma]( [$250M]( / [Post-IPO Equity]( BridgeBio Pharma focuses on the development and commercialization of precision medicines for various genetic diseases and cancers. Categories: Biotechnology • Health Care • Life Science • Medical • Pharmaceutical Founders: [Charles Homcy]( [Frank McCormick]( [Neil Kumar]( Investors: [Qatar Investment Authority]( (Lead) More Fundings Company Amount / Round Lead Investor [Xcel Energy]( $70M / [Grant]( [US Department of Energy]( [Diligent Robotics]( $25M / [Venture Round]( [Canaan Partners]( [Citrine Informatics]( $5.0M / [Venture Round]( - [Goalsetter]( $1.0M / [Corporate Round]( [Reseda Group]( [All Recent Funding Activity]( Recent Acquisitions [Lima Corporate]( Pending acquisition by [Enovis]( for 800M EUR More Acquisitions Company Acquired By Amount [American International Group Life]( [Aviva Ventures]( 460M GBP [All Recent Acquisition Activity]( #{Rails.configuration.daily.cb_url} Discover innovative companies and the people behind them. [Follow Us on Crunchbase]( [View Jobs on LinkedIn]( [Follow Us on Twitter]( [Like Us on Facebook]( 564 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94104 © 2023 Crunchbase Inc. All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Service]( [Unsubscribe]( from Crunchbase Daily.