Podcast Summary: $1B+ AI Ecosystem Fortress – Nvidia Investment Strategy

Podcast: The Last Invention is AI
Host: Jaden Schaefer
Release Date: January 7, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode focuses on Nvidia's aggressive and strategic investment approach across the AI ecosystem, particularly through substantial venture deals in the past years. Host Jaden Schaefer breaks down Nvidia's motivations, the mechanics of its investment "round-tripping," and profiles the significant companies—especially those with $100M+ rounds—in which Nvidia has invested. The episode reveals Nvidia’s dual strategy: fueling the AI boom as both a foundational hardware provider and a major equity holder in top AI startups, cementing its dominance in the AI space.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Nvidia’s Surging Investment Activity

• Nvidia’s Dominance: Nvidia, now valued at ~$4.6 trillion, is the preeminent supplier of high-performance AI chips, and their economic clout has fueled a wave of investments in AI startups and infrastructure. (00:35)

• Scale of Investment: In 2025 alone, Nvidia made 67 venture deals—exceeding the previous year’s 57. PitchBook reports further 30 deals via Nvidia’s Nventures arm, compared to just one in 2024. (01:40)

• Strategic Rationale: Nvidia backs startups that will require significant GPU purchases, creating a “round-trip” effect—companies receive Nvidia investment and then buy Nvidia’s hardware.

  "If they put money into AI companies, all of the infrastructure required to run it is going to be buying Nvidia GPUs and paying money back to Nvidia." (00:58, Jaden Schaefer)

2. Money Round-Tripping and Ecosystem Shaping

• Round-Tripping Explained: Critique (and acknowledgment) of how Nvidia funds startups that in turn spend venture capital purchasing Nvidia's own hardware—the system perpetuates their market position and profitability.

• “Owning the Future”: Nvidia isn’t just selling chips, but accumulating equity in the sector’s most promising companies, essentially financing the industry while maintaining a position at its apex.

  "Essentially they're like financing the entire industry while their stock price goes up so they can continue financing the entire industry and their stock can keep going up." (43:00, Jaden Schaefer)

3. Major Portfolio Companies and Investment Details

(Timestamps denote when each company is discussed)

• OpenAI (05:00)

  • $100M invested in October 2024 round ($6.6B raised; $157B valuation).

  • Later involved in a $100B infrastructure partnership, though details “not guaranteed.”

    "I do appreciate the clarity from Nvidia calling that out, because I don't feel like anyone else does that." (07:50)

• Anthropic (10:00)

  • Strategic investment of up to $10B in November 2025, tied to massive future spends on Nvidia hardware; Microsoft invested $5B in the same round.

    “As part of that arrangement, Anthropic agreed to spend tens of billions of dollars on cloud, compute, and Nvidia hardware.” (10:40)

• Cursor (13:20)

  • Participated in $2.3B Series D (Nov 2025, $29.3B valuation); Cursor is a prominent AI code editor.
  • First became a shareholder after years as a major enterprise client.

• xAI (Elon Musk) (15:00)

  • Backed xAI’s $6B round and expected further $2B participation in a future $20B raise, with investments structured to drive additional Nvidia hardware sales.

• Mistral AI (18:00)

  • French open source/commercial LLM company; Nvidia participated for the third time in $1.7B Series C (Sep 2025, ~$13.5B valuation).

  • Extends Nvidia’s influence to European AI development.

    "I think they don’t want to just be stuck in the United States. They want to spread out across a lot of the AI companies around the world.” (19:10)

• Reflection AI (21:10)

  • U.S. open source LLM startup, raised $2B (Oct 2025, $8B valuation) at one year old; aims to counter China’s Deep Seek.

• Thinking Machine Labs (23:20)

  • Launched by OpenAI’s ex-CTO, Amira Moratti; $2B seed funding (July 2025, $12B valuation) with Nvidia joining, without a product yet.

    “…She’s got enough clout, she goes and decides to start a company, raises $2 billion and has a $12 billion valuation. No products launched, but Nvidia signed up to help fund that.” (24:00)

• Inflection AI (26:00)

  • Emotional intelligence personal assistant AI; Nvidia invested in $1.3B round (2023).
  • Team (led by CEO Mustafa Suleyman) later “Acquihired” by Microsoft.
  • Investors, including Nvidia, reportedly recouped investment post-acquisition.

• Crusoe (29:10)

  • Builder of AI-focused data centers; Nvidia participated in $1.4B Series E (Oct 2025, $10B valuation), supporting OpenAI’s Stargate project.

• N Scale (31:00)

  • European AI data center company; $1.1B round and $340M SAFE, supporting OpenAI Stargate infrastructure.

• Wave (34:00)

  • AI systems for autonomous driving; $1.01B round (2024), with a further $500M anticipated for UK and California expansions.

• Figure AI (35:20)

  • AI for humanoid robots in industry; Nvidia invested in $1B Series C (Sep 2025, $39B valuation), a follow-on after an initial 2024 stake.

    “We've seen a lot of really cool demo videos from figure AI. Nvidia joined their $1 billion series C in September, which gave them a $39 billion valuation.” (36:10)

• Scale AI (37:50)

  • Data labeling infrastructure for LLM training; Nvidia participated in $1B round (2024).

  • Meta later bought 49%; major clients (OpenAI, Google) dropped Scale due to Meta ties.

    “Now they can basically control what happens to it. Consequently...OpenAI and Google both said they were going to stop using Scale because they didn’t want to give money to a company...tied to Meta...” (39:40)

Host’s Perspective and Analysis

• Strategic “Ecosystem Owning”: Nvidia is uniquely positioned—far beyond a chip supplier, it’s now a repeat investor and shareholder in the entire AI stack, accelerating infrastructure and taking equity in those who’ll shape the future.

• Bubble or Brilliance?: While some call this a money “bubble” or cyclical “round-tripping,” the host recognizes the methodical, coherent logic in Nvidia’s approach.

  “A lot of people call it a bubble or cyclical, or, you know, round tripping the money. But I think at the end of the day, it’s very strategic and a good move on Nvidia’s part because...now they own a massive chunk of tons of the top companies in this massively growing industry.” (43:30)

• The Bigger Picture: Nvidia is both building and benefitting from the “AI industrial revolution”—financing the tools, reaping hardware revenue, and capturing ownership of tomorrow’s tech leaders.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Round-Tripping Mechanics:

  “If they put money into AI companies, all of the infrastructure required to run it is going to be buying Nvidia GPUs and paying money back to Nvidia.” (00:58, Jaden Schaefer)

• On the Scale of Expansion:

  “I mean you could basically say Nvidia is building the AI industry and the data center industry because they're funding so much of it.” (33:30)

• On Bubble Perceptions:

  “Essentially they're like financing the entire industry while their stock price goes up so they can continue financing the entire industry and their stock can keep going up. It's kind of crazy.” (43:00)

• On Open Source Innovation:

  “Reflection AI is building an open source large language model that's kind of positioned as a lower cost alternative...it's open source, which is amazing...” (21:10)

• On Strategic Caution:

  “I do appreciate the clarity from Nvidia calling that out, because I don't feel like anyone else does that.” (07:50)

Timestamps for Segments

• [00:35] — Nvidia's growth and investment overview
• [05:00] — OpenAI investment details
• [10:00] — Anthropic and round-tripping partnership
• [13:20] — Cursor AI code editor
• [15:00] — xAI and Elon Musk
• [18:00] — Mistral AI expansion into Europe
• [21:10] — Reflection AI and the open source push
• [23:20] — Thinking Machine Labs founder clout
• [26:00] — Inflection AI’s trajectory and “Acquihire”
• [29:10] — Crusoe, data centers, and Stargate
• [31:00] — N Scale and the OpenAI Stargate web
• [34:00] — Wave’s autonomous driving focus
• [35:20] — Figure AI’s humanoid robotics
• [37:50] — Scale AI, Meta acquisition, exodus
• [43:00] — Wrap-up analysis (“financing the entire industry”)

Conclusion

Nvidia wields unprecedented influence across the global AI landscape—not just by selling hardware, but by investing in and ultimately shaping the strategic direction of the companies most likely to define the future of artificial intelligence. The host frames Nvidia’s approach as not only rational but potentially generative for the industry, highlighting both the opportunities—and the questions—their participation raises for the broader world.