Podcast Summary: AI Companies That Raised Over $100M+ | Pt. 3

Podcast: AI Hustle: Make Money from AI and ChatGPT, Midjourney, NVIDIA, Anthropic, OpenAI
Hosts: Jaeden Schafer (A) and Jamie McCauley (B)
Date: January 2, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode is the third installment in a series profiling AI companies that have raised over $100 million, focusing on those with significant funding rounds in March 2025. The hosts delve into which sectors are attracting major investments, highlight key innovations, and discuss the impact these large capital infusions have on the state of AI entrepreneurship.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Purpose of the Series

• The hosts explain their motivation for the series: "It's number one just really interesting to see, like, where the industry is...This gives you a good idea of what industries are receiving funding, how they're receiving funding, who's giving them money. I think it's pretty eye opening." (A, 00:00)
• Each episode features a brief profile of leading companies, offering listeners actionable insights into market trends.

2. OpenAI: The Unprecedented Giant

• Funding: Raised a staggering $40 billion in March, led by SoftBank with participation from Thrive Capital, Microsoft, and CO2. (B, 00:46)
• Valuation: Now sits at an astonishing $300 billion. (A, 01:54)
• Industry Impact: "When you have SoftBank coming in, you know you mean business. They also had Thrive Capital, Microsoft, CO2—all of those. So they had the big boys, they brought out the big guns." (A, 01:54)
• AGI Status: Despite the record funding, OpenAI still has not achieved AGI. "But we'll forgive them because their models are...generally pretty good, I guess, for sure." (A, 01:54)

Memorable Quote:

"Oh my gosh. OpenAI $40 billion just in March. They've raised so much money, it's insane."
—Jaeden Schafer, 01:54

3. Next Hop AI: Infrastructure Innovation

• Funding: Series A, $110 million, led by Lightspeed Ventures, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Battery Ventures, and Emergent Ventures. (B, 02:43)
• Industry Focus: Specialized in AI infrastructure—an area the hosts believe will be enormous in the coming years.

4. Il Silco Medicine: Transforming Drug Discovery

• Funding: Series E, $110 million. Co-led by Value Partners and Pudong Chowtong (China), company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (A, 03:21)
• Valuation: $1 billion.
• Innovation: Focused on AI-powered drug discovery, utilizing robotics and generative models to accelerate chemical compound research, from conceptualization to testing.
• Global Investment: Chinese investment signals international confidence in this sector.
• Industry Insight: "There's a lot of money to be made in drug discovery. What I find is when some of these drug discovery companies are raising money, it's because they've usually…made some sort of breakthrough." (A, 03:21)
• Workflow Advancement: Integration of AI and robotics for mixing/testing, creating processes faster than humanly possible.

Memorable Quote:

"The AI comes up with chemical compound mixture ideas. They have a robot do the actual mixing. They have an AI analyze it. So there's like some really interesting stuff happening with AI drug discovery."
—Jaeden Schafer, 03:21

Memorable Moment:
Jamie shares personal fascination:

"I was a chemistry minor in college and so, like, the whole idea of AI doing drug discovery is just totally crazy. I would love to chat for, you know, an hour with someone in that industry."
—Jamie McCauley, 04:58

5. Celestial AI: Acquired After a Massive Raise

• Funding: Series C, $250 million, led by Fidelity. Investors included Tiger Global, BlackRock, and Intel CEO Lip Bhutan. (B, 05:42)
• Valuation: $2.5 billion.
• Recent Development: Completed merger/acquisition by Marvel as of December 2, 2025—less than a year after the funding round.
• Industry Impact: Focuses on scaling connectivity for next-generation data centers, at the infrastructure backbone of AI deployment.
• Insight: "Getting acquired is no shocker. And I think that the acquisition probably paid out nicely for their investors." (A, 05:42)

6. Lilia Sciences: Toward Scientific Superintelligence

• Funding: Seed round, $200 million, aiming to create a "Science superintelligence platform." (B, 06:39)
• Vision: The company's tagline describes them as introducing a "scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous labs for life, chemical and material sciences to rapidly expand human knowledge." (A, 07:16)
• Technology: Blending robotics and AI for autonomous labs that handle chemical/material science experiments—robots execute experiments, AI handles analysis and decision-making.
• Industry Trend: Points to growing specificity in AI solutions (e.g., domain-focused AI for scientific research).

Notable Description:

"It's autonomous chemical and material sciences. So it will have the robotics element to it... robots picking up vials and moving stuff around. It's kind of mixing the robotics and the AI for decision making together."
—Jaeden Schafer, 07:16

Notable Quotes

• "This gives you a good idea of what industries are receiving funding, how they're receiving funding, who's giving them money." (A, 00:00)
• "OpenAI $40 billion just in March. They've raised so much money, it's insane." (A, 01:54)
• "There's like some really interesting stuff happening with AI drug discovery. So this will be an exciting one to keep following in the future." (A, 03:21)
• "The whole idea of AI doing drug discovery is just totally crazy." (B, 04:58)
• "Congratulations to everyone over at Celestial AI. The merger was just announced December 2nd of this year." (A, 05:42)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00 – Intro and reason for the series
• 00:46 – OpenAI raises $40 billion; implications
• 02:43 – Next Hop AI and AI infrastructure investment
• 03:21 – Il Silco Medicine and the race for AI-powered drug discovery
• 04:58 – Reflections on AI in science; Jamie shares personal perspective
• 05:42 – Celestial AI's funding, business focus, and acquisition
• 06:39 – Lilia Sciences, scientific superintelligence, and robotics labs
• 08:15 – Wrap-up and tease for the next episode

Episode Tone & Style

The hosts bring a blend of analytical insight and enthusiastic curiosity. Their commentary is accessible yet informed, with moments of humor and awe (especially regarding funding scale and scientific breakthroughs).

Conclusion

This episode gives listeners a whirlwind tour of the biggest AI funding rounds of March 2025, highlighting both the scale of investment and the frontiers where AI is making transformative change—especially in infrastructure and scientific discovery. The hosts' authentic excitement and industry insights make this a valuable listen for entrepreneurs, investors, and anyone curious about where the next wave of AI innovation will break.

For More:
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