Startup Factories: NVIDIA
Meet the 75+ startups founded by former NVIDIA operators who have collectively raised over $1 billion to date. Over 50% of the founders have an engineering background.
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Startup Factories: NVIDIA
We recently launched a new series called Startup Factories—when a startup achieves success, it often blossoms with powerful network effects—former employees, or "operators," go on to launch their own ventures, invest in early-stage startups, or even establish their own venture funds.
Startup Factories explores the technology powerhouses, the visionary founders they cultivate, and the groundbreaking startups they build—past and present.
Throughout this edition, we cover the former operators at NVIDIA who are now building their own startup.
What do we know so far?
NVIDIA has produced 75+ operators turned founders.
Stanford University is the most commonly attended institution among these founders.
50% of the startups are U.S. headquartered.
A number of NVIDIA former interns went on to launch their own startups.
The 75+ startups have raised over $1B in total.
The typical NVIDIA former operator turned founder has an engineering background.
*Throughout this edition, we used Harmonic as our data provider.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA is a computing platform company operating at the intersection of graphics, HPC, and AI.
When were the startups founded?
To date, over 75 startups founded by former NVIDIA operators have each raised at least $500k, qualifying them for inclusion in this piece and our dataset.
Many former operators launched startups in 2023, at the start of the AI boom.
Roles held at NVIDIA
When we explored which roles the former operators had at NVIDIA before founding, the majority had an engineering background. Interestingly, these are the same characteristics held in former Palantir operators who went on to launch their own startups as we highlighted in our previous edition.
Where are the startups based?
Of the 75+ startups listed, 50% were founded in the U.S., followed by India, Finland, Singapore, Canada, Israel and others.
Latest fundraising activity
Of the 75+ startups founded by former NVIDIA operators, the majority are currently at the Pre-Seed or Seed stage. Notably, NVIDIA has also produced one startup that has gone public: MobiKwik.
Average funding rounds
From our data room analysis, we identified that former operators who became founders have raised the following amounts per funding stage based on their latest rounds.
Number of co-founders per startup
Among the 75+ startups, 40% have at least two co-founders—a statistic matching that of former Palantir operators turned founders.
NVIDIA startups have raised over $1 billion in venture funding
Of the 75+ startups listed, they have collectively raised over $1 billion.
Universities attended by founders
Among the universities attended by founders, Stanford University ranked the highest, followed by UC Berkeley and MIT.
The most active investors in NVIDIA startups
From the 75+ startups listed, 30% of them raised from Y Combinator, followed by Sequoia Capital, Peak XV Partners (formerly known as Sequoia India & SEA), Boost VC, SV Angel and others.
Categories in which the startups are building in
Of the 75+ startups mentioned, half are focused on building in AI. Other popular categories include Software (SaaS), Blockchain, Cybersecurity, FinTech, and Health.
Meet the 75+ startups
Disclaimer: We have only featured startups which have raised a minimum of USD $500,000.
Meet the 60+ startups in stealth that have been founded in the last 12 months
In addition to the 75+ startups that have raised at least $500K, there are also over 60 founders, all former NVIDIA operators, who have been building in stealth since 2024.
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