AI21 Labs, a generative AI startup, has secured an additional $53 million in funding in the midst of the ongoing turmoil at OpenAI. This extension brings the company’s total funding to $336 million, with a valuation of $1.4 billion. The funding round saw participation from new investors Intel Capital and Comcast Ventures.
Key Takeaway
AI21 Labs, a generative AI startup, secures $53 million in additional funding, bringing their total raised to $336 million and maintaining a valuation of
.4 billion.
Investment towards Product Development and Expansion
Ori Goshen, co-founder and CEO of AI21 Labs, stated that the funds will be utilized for product development and expanding the company’s workforce. As OpenAI experiences a wave of departures, AI21 Labs may seize the opportunity to attract new talent. Goshen expressed gratitude towards the investors, highlighting the significance of deep technology expertise in the widespread adoption of AI.
AI21 Labs’ Offerings and Differentiation
Established in 2017 in Tel Aviv, AI21 Labs focuses on developing text-generating AI tools. Its flagship product, AI21 Studio, is a customizable developer platform aimed at building text-based business applications using the company’s proprietary AI models. AI21 Labs also offers Wordtune, a multilingual reading and writing AI assistant similar to Grammarly.
Customers can benefit from AI21 Labs’ platform through APIs for various generative AI use cases, including summarization, paraphrasing, and grammar and spelling correction. Furthermore, the company’s models support multiple languages such as Spanish, German, Italian, and Dutch. Despite facing competition from OpenAI, as well as well-funded startups like Cohere and Anthropic, AI21 Labs believes it stands out due to its comprehensive systems approach.
Building Momentum and Strategic Partnerships
According to Goshen, AI21 Labs has gained considerable momentum with “several” Fortune 100 companies as clients and over 10 million users of Wordtune. Partnerships with Dataiku and Amazon have likely contributed to this success, especially with the recent launch of Amazon’s Bedrock generative AI dev platform.
It is worth mentioning that Intel has made a substantial investment in AI21 Labs, making it their second major generative AI investment after Stability AI. This is likely due to the connection between Intel and Mobileye, as Mobileye’s co-founder, Amnon Shashua, is also involved with AI21 Labs. It is possible that Intel is responding to the pressure from rival chipmaker Nvidia to further strengthen its position in the AI field.
As AI21 Labs secures additional funding and strengthens its position in the generative AI space, the company remains focused on developing innovative AI technologies that bring value and impact to its clients.
