<p>NVIDIA says it will help its 9,000+ members of <a href="https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/startups/">NVIDIA Inception</a> with a better chance to get venture capital funding. The company is introducing a new program benefit to connect these startups with a rapidly growing community of 200 VCs and investors.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2021/04/14/inception-vc-alliance-launches/">NVIDIA Inception VC Allianc</a>e will open new paths for startups to engage, create introductions and accelerate potential funding, which will facilitate global startup innovation.</p>
<h2><b>Expanding Access to Investors</b></h2>
<p>Similar to a virtual matchmaking service, this new benefit from NVIDIA Inception — a program designed to nurture startups revolutionizing industries with advancements in AI and data science AR/VR, HPC, and beyond— enables members to indicate funding interest and then connect with VCs and investors, who might not otherwise be reachable.</p>
<p>To engage these VCs, members provide specifics on their upcoming raise such as amount of funding, lead investor, and details on how they’ll deploy raised capital. This confidential data — provided only to VC Alliance members — helps VCs and other backers quickly identify startups that match their investment thesis, such as industry, investment stage, region and lead.</p>
<p>Once a startup is identified, with a single click inside the VC portal, both parties are directly connected and can discuss an investment opportunity.</p>
<h2><b>Engaging Across the Startup Ecosystem</b></h2>
<p>Launched in April, the VC Alliance offers venture capital firms and investors insights to the startup landscape, a closer relationship with NVIDIA, direct portfolio support and exposure to promising startups.</p>
<p>The types of investors who have joined the alliance as members have broadened as well, and now includes private equity, family offices and sovereign wealth funds.</p>
<p>Investment in startups is on pace this year to exceed all previous records, and valuations are at all-time highs. Meanwhile, exits since the third quarter of 2020 have more than doubled, as U.S. venture-backed startups that went public or got acquired totalled $582 billion in value, according to a PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report.</p>
<h2><b>Inception Membership Jumping</b></h2>
<p>NVIDIA Inception members, which have grown 29 percent since the start of the calendar year and more than 8 percent in the last quarter, account for roughly two-thirds of AI startups worldwide, based on industry estimates from Pitchbook.</p>
<p>These numbers continue to grow. Inception members now represent more than 100 countries, notching upwards of $65 billion in funding, making it a leading indicator of the global AI startup ecosystem.</p>

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