AI21 Labs raised $155 M Series C funding from Google, others at $1.4 B valuation

In the generative AI sector, enterprise offerings are gaining traction. For example, OpenAI recently debuted a business-grade version of its ChatGPT service.

Similar work is done by Google through its Vertex AI, an AI development platform, which partners with organizations like Snorkel AI and Contextual AI, and Google Cloud. Additionally, Google has invested in AI21 Labs, an Israeli rival to OpenAI.

AI systems for natural language are created by AI21 Labs. The startup was valued at US $1.4 billion after raising US $155 million in a series C round.

Nvidia, Samsung Next, and SCB10X are a few of the investors in the round in addition to Google.

The funds raised will go toward expanding globally and growing AI21 Labs’ text-based generative AI services for businesses.

The main offering from AI21 Labs is AI21 Studio, a development environment that enables users to build custom text-based business applications using Jurassic-2, a sizable language model.

For the time being, AI21 Studio’s chatbot is powered by Harambee, a platform for South African governmental organizations that assists young talent in finding employment. Additionally, it enhances the player experience for AI Dungeon, a text-based adventure game from Latitude, an AI gaming company.

Wordtune, a multilingual reading and writing AI assistant, is another product offered by AI21 Labs.

Other clients of the business to date have included Carrefour, Clarivate, eBay, Guesty, Monday.com, and Ubisoft.