Artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia will be investing as much as $1 billion in AI startup Poolside, according to Bloomberg. This deal could potentially more than quadruple the valuation of the startup.
Poolside is in discussions to raise $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation, not including dollars raised. Nvidia’s investment in the round, which has not been previously reported, would start at $500 million, with the potential to reach $1 billion if the startup meets its fundraising targets. The startup has already secured more than $1 billion in commitments for the latest funding round, including roughly $700 million from existing investors. Money Manager Magnetar is also in the talks for an investment.
READ: What does Nvidia’s $100 billion investment in OpenAI mean? (September 24, 2025)
Poolside, which has offices in Paris and the U.S., has a product focused on coding automation targeting government and defense applications. However, the company has stated its ambitions to build Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). AGI is a hypothetical form of AI that is so advanced it can outperform humans.
The deal also helps with Poolside’s ambitious infrastructure plans. Earlier this month, the company announced a partnership with CoreWeave Inc. to build one of the largest data centers in the US, part of an initiative known as Project Horizon. The facility will be built in West Texas and is expected to have 2 gigawatts of capacity, which is enough to power about 1.5 million homes.
Poolside was founded in 2023 by former Github executive Jason Warner, and Eiso Kant. It is one of the fast-growing AI companies that have gained Nvidia’s attention. The chipmaker had invested in 59 AI startups this year alone, as of mid-October. Nvidia has also taken stakes in Perplexity AI, the AI search engine, and humanoid robotics company Figure AI, among other companies.
Earlier this year, Nvidia also announced an investment of $100 billion in OpenAI. The bulk of this will be used for data centers.
Nvidia also said it was exploring a $500 million investment into U.K.-based self-driving company Wayve in October. Last month, the company took a $5 billion stake in Intel with plans for future chip collaboration.
“I’m delighted that AI startups build on Nvidia,” Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said during his keynote address at the company’s GTC conference on Tuesday. “They do so for several reasons. One, of course, our ecosystem is rich. Our tools work great.”