10 Cool Tech Companies That Raised Funding In December 2024

Startups developing AI infrastructure were most prominent among the companies raising venture capital funding in December although established companies Databricks and Veeam were the big winners among investors.

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AI continues to attract the lion’s share of venture capital investment, especially startups developing AI infrastructure hardware and software to support the wave of AI development that continues to sweep through the IT industry.

Companies developing AI agentic and large language model software are also reporting successful early-stage funding rounds.

But the big winners in attracting investors in December were two established companies: AI and data lakehouse platform provider Databricks and data protection and resiliency tech company Veeam.

Startups developing next-generation data storage, cloud security and cloud deployment platforms also made the list of venture capital recipients in December.

Here’s a look at 10 companies that raised funding in December 2024.

Databricks

Headquarters: San Francisco

CEO: Ali Ghodsi

Funding: A $10-billion Series J funding round that boosted the company’s valuation to $62 billion.

Investors: The funding round was co-led by new investor Thrive Capital and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners and WCM Investment Management. Other significant participants included existing investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and new investors ICONIQ Growth, MGX, Sands Capital and Wellington Management.

What company does: Databricks develops its flagship Databricks Data Intelligence Platform for a range of data analytics, data lake, data management and AI tasks.

CEO Quote: “We were substantially oversubscribed with this round and are super excited to bring on some of the world’s most well-known investors who have a deep conviction in our vision. These are still the early days of AI. We are positioning the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to deliver long-term value for our customers and our team is committed to helping companies across every industry build data intelligence. We’re building transformative data and AI infrastructure and excited to move aggressively in service of our customers and their success.”

Veeam

Headquarters: Seattle

CEO: Anand Eswran

Funding: Veeam expanded its investor base with a $2-billion secondary offering that valued the company at $15 billion.

Investors: The transaction was led by TPG with participation from Temasek, Neuberger Berman Capital Solutions, and other “key investors.”

What company does: Veeam is a leading provider of data resiliency and protection software and services.

CEO Quote: “In a digital-first world, data is the foundation of your business. If you lose access to that data, your business stops. As enterprises embrace AI and digital initiatives, the volume and value of data continues to grow, along with the risks – ransomware, cyber threats, and other outages. Our 550,000 customers and over 34,000 partners trust Veeam to keep their data resilient and their businesses running. That trust has made us the No. 1 global leader in data resilience and fuels our commitment to propel the industry forward.”

Tenstorrent

Headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif.

CEO: Jim Keller

Funding: A Series D funding round of more than $693 million at a pre-money valuation of $2 billion.

Investors: The round was led by Samsung Securities and AFW Partners with participation from XTX Markets, Corner Capital, Protagonist, MESH, Export Development Canada, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, LG Technology Ventures, Hyundai Motor Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Innovation Engine, Baillie Gifford, Bezos Expeditions, and others.

What company does: Tenstorrent builds and sells computers for artificial intelligence tasks that are built using the company’s Tensix cores processors.

CEO Quote: “During the fundraising process I was impressed by how interested our investors were in our open-source approach to software. They realize that the way to win is to get developers on board by giving them all the tools they need to own their own technology.”

Crusoe

Headquarters: San Francisco

CEO: Chase Lochmiller

Funding: The $600 million Series D funding round boosted Crusoe’s valuation to $2.8 billion.

Investors: The round was led by Founders Fund with participation from a number of new and existing investors including Fidelity, Long Journey Ventures, Mubadala, Nvidia, Ribbit Capital and Valor Equity Partners.

What company does: Crusoe is a provider of vertically integrated infrastructure for cloud-based AI processing. The recently introduced Crusoe Cloud is a high-performance platform tailored for AI and machine learning workloads.

CEO Quote: “We believe a new approach is needed to power the AI revolution. To reduce complexity, accelerate time-to-value, and support the most demanding AI solutions, customers need a vertically integrated approach. We are able to innovate faster and bring new, state-of-the-art capacity online in a fraction of the time compared to legacy cloud providers while delivering unmatched results for customers, making the promises of AI a reality.”

Vultr

Headquarters: West Palm Beach, Fla.

CEO: J.J. Kardwell

Funding: A growth financing round of $333 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion.

Investors: The funding round was led by LuminArx Capital Management and AMD Ventures.

What company does: Vultr provides high-performance cloud and AI infrastructure through its 32 cloud data center regions across six continents.

CEO Quote: Vultr has become the leading cloud infrastructure alternative to traditional hyperscalers. As we continue our global expansion, LuminArx’s collaborative, innovative approach and AMD’s strategic impact enable Vultr to further accelerate growth in AI infrastructure and cloud computing, creating the category-defining independent cloud infrastructure company.”

Liquid AI

Headquarters: Cambridge, Mass.

CEO: Ramin Hasani

Funding: $250 million in Series A funding.

Investors: AMD Ventures was the “strategic lead” in the funding round.

What company does: Liquid AI, an MIT spinoff, provides high-performance, scalable AI technology centered on the company’s Liquid Foundation Models (LFMs), high-performance AI models that are designed to be integrated into workplace workflows.

CEO Quote: “Since our inception, we have demonstrated the scalability of our technology by releasing text-based models, unveiling multimodal LFMs, and collaborating with key partners to showcase real-world impact. We are proud to partner with AMD to further unlock sovereign AI experiences for businesses and users.”

Upwind Security

Headquarters:

CEO: Amiram Shachar

Funding: The $100 million Series A funding round boosted Upwind Security’s valuation to $900 million.

Investors: The round was led by Craft Ventures and was joined by new investors TCV and Alta Park and existing investors Greylock, Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund, Cerca and Sheva.

What company does: Upwind is a next-generation cloud security provider, offering a comprehensive runtime cloud security platform that includes cloud workload protection and cloud detection and response as well as CSPM (cloud security posture management), CIEM (cloud identity entitlement management) and other capabilities.

CEO Quote:

"Cloud security is becoming more complex, and organizations need smart solutions to help them move fast, without breaking anything. This investment reflects the growth and confidence we're seeing from enterprise customers and allows us to give customers tools that make a real difference. Our platform is reshaping cloud security by tackling the constantly changing factors enterprises face in real-time. By offering clear cloud topologies and better visibility, we help teams focus on their most critical threats, not theoretical risks and false alarms, fostering stronger collaboration between security and DevOps while enabling faster, safer growth."

Biomemory

Headquarters: Paris, France

CEO: Erfane Arwani

Funding: $18 million in a Series A funding round.

Investors: The round was led by Credit Mutuel Innovation with participation from existing investor French Tech Seed fund and new investor the Deep Tech 2030 fund, both managed on behalf of the French State by Bpifrance within the scope of France 2030, according to the funding press release. Other new investors included Blast, Paris Business Angels, Sorbonne Venture, Adnexus, Prunay, Next Sequence and Accelerem.

What company does: Biomemory develops data storage technology at the intersection of biotechnology and information technology. The company’s primary focus is the development of a DNA-based, end-to-end storage bay appliance for data centers.

CEO Quote: “This investment marks a pivotal moment for Biomemory and the future of data storage. With our DNA storage technology, we’re not just addressing today’s data challenges – we’re building solutions that will sustain the ecosystem for the next century and beyond. By sharing this value with our partners and collaborators, we aim to collectively advance the sector and foster a thriving data storage ecosystem.”

Nuon

Headquarters: San Francisco

CEO: Jon Morehouse

Funding: Nuon exited stealth with $16.5 million in funding.

Investors: Investors included venture capital firms M12, Uncork Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Essence VC, Mantis VC and Red Swan Ventures, along with angel investors Quinn Slack (CEO of SourceGraph), Richie Artoul (co-founder of WarpStream) and Michael Grinich (CEO of WorkOS).

What company does: In exiting stealth Nuon debuted its Bring Your Own Cloud platform that enables SaaS providers to deploy AI, data and business-critical infrastructure software.

CEO Quote: "In today’s enterprise software landscape, every company must answer the inevitable customer question: ‘Can this run in our cloud account? Nuon enables any company to offer the BYOC deployment model in minutes, unlocking new customers, meeting data sovereignty requirements, and more deeply integrating with customer data and LLMs.”

Across AI

Headquarters: San Francisco

CEO: Steven Mih

Funding: $5.7 million in seed funding.

Investors: The round was co-led by venture capital firms Village Global and Cota Capital.

What company does: Across AI is developing next-generation agentic AI memory software for improving enterprise workflows. Its initial focus is on business-to-business sales processes.

CEO Quote: “The bigger picture is that business workflows haven't been able to adopt AI very well. This is going to be the first enterprise sales AI, supported by what we call the next-gen agent memory.”