AI startup AI21 Labs valued at $1.4 billion after latest fund raise

(Reuters) - Israel-based AI startup AI21 Labs said on Tuesday it has raised $155 million in a Series C funding round which saw participation from technology heavyweights Alphabet's Google and Nvidia.

With the latest round, AI21 has raised a total capital of $283 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion, the company said.

Companies across the world, from banks to big tech, have doubled down on investments in artificial intelligence (AI) after ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot by Microsoft-backed OpenAI took the world by storm in late 2022.

AI21 is among a clutch of AI startups that have benefited from this boom, attracting strong interest from venture capital firms and other investors.

"The innovative work by the AI21 Labs team will help enterprises accelerate productivity and efficiency with generative AI-based systems," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.

Founded in 2017, AI21 Labs has built a strong customer base, from consumers to Fortune 100 companies.

(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)