editorial
AI21 Labs, an artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, has announced that it raised $155 million in Series C funding. The funding will be used to accelerate the expansion of the company’s text-based generative AI services for businesses.
Investors in the funding round included Walden Catalyst, Pitango, SCB10X, b2venture, Samsung Next, Prof. Amnon Shashua, Google, and NVIDIA. This brings the total funds raised by the company to $283 million and its valuation to $1.4 billion.
AI21 Labs, founded in 2017 by Amnon Shasuha, Yoav Shoham, and Ori Goshen, was one of the pioneers in bringing generative AI to the mainstream. The company has since gained a diverse range of clients, from individual consumers to Fortune 100 corporations.
The company’s focus is not only on developing models but also on creating AI systems that are easy to integrate and provide reliable, accurate, and trustworthy outcomes. Its flagship products, AI21 Studio and Wordtune, are powered by the Jurassic-2 foundation models, which are claimed to be among the world’s largest and most sophisticated LLMs. These platforms enable the development of custom text-based business applications and a multilingual reading and writing AI assistant.
Chairman Amnon Shashua stated that AI21 Labs is a leading player in AI, developing and owning foundation models that serve as platforms for developers and enterprises. The company’s goal is to develop the next level of AI with reasoning capabilities across multiple domains. Shashua believes that AI21 Labs will have a global impact in the near future.
Co-CEOs Yoav Shoham and Ori Goshen expressed their appreciation for the support from both existing and new investors. They emphasized that AI21 Labs’ state-of-the-art technology, which includes large language models and neurosymbolic technology, offers the robustness, predictability, and explainability required by AI-first enterprises.
This funding follows AI21 Labs’ recent efforts to bring generative AI to businesses and professionals through partnerships with companies such as Carrefour, Clarivate, eBay, Guesty, Monday.com, and Ubisoft. The company was also recognized as one of the most innovative generative AI startups on the CB Insights GenAI 50 List.
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