Tokyo-based AI research and development firm Sakana AI has successfully raised over $100 million in its Series A funding round. Leading the round are New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital, with NVIDIA also participating.
Moreover, the company is also set to collaborate with NVIDIA on research, infrastructure, and AI community development in Japan.
Sakana AI, which focuses on nature-inspired intelligence and foundation models, aims to advance AI research with an emphasis on evolutionary optimisation and sparsity.
The partnership with NVIDIA will provide Sakana AI with access to cutting-edge GPU technologies, essential for their development goals. Additionally, the collaboration will support Sakana AI’s access to data centers in Japan, enhancing their capability to conduct experiments and drive AI innovations locally.
“Countries are embracing Sovereign AI to capture and codify their data, culture and language through their own unique large language models. The team at Sakana AI is helping spur the democratization of AI in Japan by developing cutting-edge foundation models to automate and speed up scientific discovery with NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform,” said Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA.
The company’s partnership with NVIDIA is designed around three main areas: advancing research, leveraging NVIDIA’s data center infrastructure, and boosting Japan’s AI community.Sakana AI plans to address Japan’s AI talent gap through increased community activities, including events and university outreach.
“While many labs globally are trying to catch up, and train foundation models by using the same techniques as everyone else, Japan’s Sakana AI is showing the path to innovation. We have been early investors and are thrilled to have NVIDIA join us on this journey”, said Vinod Khosla, Founder of Khosla Ventures.
Looking ahead, Sakana AI aims to tackle Japan’s significant challenges, such as demographic decline and geopolitical tensions, by building a world-class AI lab. The company’s goal is to develop technologies that support Japan’s future competitiveness and address the nation’s pressing issues.
With the Series A funding, Sakana AI will invest in talent and infrastructure to advance their mission of creating sustainable and efficient AI technologies. The company aspires to enhance Japan’s technological position and support its institutions and citizens in navigating future challenges.
