Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup quarterly highlights. Includes a sector summary, recent events, and a deep dive into machine learning application startups. Contact info@venturescanner.com or visit www.venturescanner.com to learn more about our research platform for technology startups!
2. Quarterly artificial intelligence (AI) highlights
2
This brief overview of the artificial intelligence sector provides three sections
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SectorSummary
Macro-level viewson the
state of the artificial
intelligence sector
LatestActivity
Major funding and exit
events from the previous
quarter
CategoryDiscovery
Deep dive into a single
artificial intelligence
category
5. ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
Computer Vision Platforms
(199Companies)
Computer Vision Apps
(233 Companies)
Smart Robots
(178 Companies)
Gesture Control
(61 Companies)
Speech Recognition
(169Companies)
Virtual Assistants
(210Companies)
RecommendationEngines
(105Companies)
Video Recognition
(21 Companies)
Context Aware Computing
(33 Companies)
Speech to Speech Trans
(21 Companies)
Machine Learning Applications
(669 Companies)
Machine Learning Platforms
(269 Companies)
Natural Language Processing
(314Companies)
The Venture Scanner researchplatform
currently tracks 2,029 artificial
intelligence startups with $27B in funding
The graphic above shows a random sampling of companiesin each category, data cumulativeas of December2017
6. Smart Robots
ML Platforms
Gesture Control
Video Recognition
CV Platforms
ML Applications
Virtual Assistants
Speech Recognition
NLP
CV Applications RecommendationEngines
Context Computing
Speech to Speech
Translation
6
Innovation quadrant for artificial intelligence
AverageFunding
ESTABLISHED HEAVYWEIGHTS
PIONEERS DISRUPTORS
AverageAge
This quadrant shows a relative segmentationof the categories with respect to oneanother, data cumulativeas of December2017
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7. 7
VC funding into artificial intelligence grew significantly in 2017
Overall artificial intelligence funding grew at a CAGR of 85% from 2012-2017,
and 2017 was 340% of 2016 funding
Artificial Intelligence Annual Funding Over Time
Data cumulativeas of December2017
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0
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4
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2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Funding($B)
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
8. 8
All quarters’ funding grew significantly year over year
The funding in Q4 2017 was 236% of the funding in Q4 2016, and the funding in
Q3 2017 was 449% of the funding in Q3 2016
Artificial Intelligence Quarterly Funding Over Time
Data cumulativeas of December2017
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0
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3
4
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6
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Funding($B)
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
9. 9
Exits within the space are on a general upward trend
Overall artificial intelligence exits grew at a CAGR of 38% from 2012-2017,
and the exits in 2017 were 175% of the exits in 2016
Artificial Intelligence Exit Events Over Time
Data cumulativeas of December2017
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0
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30
40
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80
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
ExitEvents(AcquistionsandIPOs)
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
11. 11
Artificial intelligence funding events were mostly early stage in Q4 2017
There were 117 funding events this quarter, 62% of which were Seed and Series A
Recent Artificial Intelligence Funding Round Counts
Graphs shows only the funding rounds listed therein
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0
5
10
15
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25
30
35
40
45
Seed A B C D Late Stage
FundingEvents
Funding Event
12. 12
Smart robots companies received the most funding in Q4 2017
Artificial intelligence startups raised $3.3 billion over the last quarter, with
smart robots companies raising the most funding at $883 million
Quarterly Artificial Intelligence Category Funding
Companiesare categorized by function, and therefore can exist in multiple categories.
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0
100
200
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QuarterlyFunding($M)
13. 13
Recent artificial intelligence funding events
Notable Recent Artificial Intelligence Funding Events
Company FundingType Amount Date
Series C $460,000,000 Nov 1, 2017
Series C $400,000,000 Nov 15, 2017
Series C $227,000,000 Nov 29, 2017
Private Equity $117,000,000 Nov 7, 2017
Series C $100,000,000 Oct 20, 2017
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The top 5 artificial intelligence funding events accounted for 40% of quarterly funding
14. 14
Recent artificial intelligence exit events
Notable Recent Artificial Intelligence Exit Events
Company Acquirer Amount Date
$81,252,495 Nov 3, 2017
Unknown Dec 20, 2017
Unknown Nov 28, 2017
Unknown Oct 23, 2017
Unknown Oct 19, 2017
There were 10 artificial intelligence exits this past quarter, all of
which have been acquisitions
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15. Category Discovery – Deep Learning/Machine Learning Applications
Every quarter a newcategory will receivea deep dive,providing comparisonsto other
categories and discussingtrends
15
16. 16
Machine learning applications is the leading category within artificial intelligence
The machine learning applications category accounts for 35% of funding in
the sector and saw 7% growth last quarter
Venture Investing in Artificial Intelligence
Companiesare categorized by function, and therefore can exist in multiple categories. Data cumulativeas of December2017
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0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
GrowthfromPreviousQuarter
Funding($B)
Previous Total Quarterly Funding Percent Growth
17. 17
Companies within machine learning applications are generally better funded than their peers
Machine learning applications have a median funding $3M higher than the
average of other categories, and a third quartile that is $6M higher
Artificial Intelligence Category Funding Quartiles
Companiesare categorized by function, and therefore can exist in multiple categories. Data cumulativeas of December2017
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0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
FundingQuartiles($M)
First Quartile Median Third Quartile
18. 18
Machine learning applications funding grew in 2017, while funding events stayed relatively flat
Overall machine learning applications funding grew at a CAGR of 79% from
2012-2017, and 2017 funding was 407% of 2016 funding
Machine Learning Applications Quarterly Funding
Data cumulativeas of December2017
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10
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30
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0.0
0.5
1.0
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Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2011 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012 2012 2012 2013 2013 2013 2013 2014 2014 2014 2014 2015 2015 2015 2015 2016 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
FundingEvents
Funding($B)
Funding Events
19. 19
Machine learning applications funding amounts have shifted to Series B
Machine Learning Applications Funding Amount By Round
In Q4 2017, Series B was the biggest funding round and accounted for
34% of total VC funding
Graphs shows only the funding rounds listed therein. Data cumulativeas of December2017
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-
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
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Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2015 2015 2015 2015 2016 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
Funding($B)
Seed A B C D Late Stage
20. 20
Funding within machine learning applications is moderately concentrated
Machine Learning Applications Companies with Large Funding Amounts
Company LatestRound Amount Location
Private Equity $3,100,000,000 China
Undisclosed $1,000,000,000 Pittsburgh,USA
Series D $359,000,000 Cambridge, USA
Undisclosed $267,250,000 Los Angeles, USA
Series E $251,200,024 Provo, USA
The top 5 machine learning applications companies by total funding account for
38% of overall category funding
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22
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