In today’s dynamic world, the need to adopt AI to solve problems and sustain economic growth has seen a tremendous increase across households, businesses, and governments. PwC projects that AI alone could account for up to $15.7 trillion in the global GDP by 2030. With influence cutting across major sectors and industries like online education, data science, healthcare, transport, and security, many countries and businesses are investing heavily in AI.
Considering the funding, policies mentions in congressional records, investment deals, private investments, and the number of companies associated directly with AI, the US sits atop the pyramid of countries heavily invested in AI, with a recent March 17th, 2022 report by Statista placing the number of AI companies in the US at 2,028.
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Below we list and dig deep into top AI companies in the USA, considering their impact, popularity, and influence.
Table of Contents
1. Nuro
Headquartered in Mountain View California and co-founded in 2016 by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson (former engineers of the Google self-driving cars project, Waymo), Nuro develops and operates autonomous delivery vehicles that deliver assorted local goods.
According to its website, Nuro is “On a mission to better everyday life through robotics.” This innovation has revolutionized the transportation and logistics industry, attracting partnerships from; Kroger Groceries (June 2018), Dominos Pizza (June 17th, 2019), CVS Pharmacy – Prescription delivery (May 2020), and Walmart.
On Dec 23rd, 2020, Nuro acquired Ike Robotics Inc. at an undisclosed amount in an expansion program and has so far received investor funding of up to $2.1 billion. Just recently, Nuro appeared on the 2022 Forbes AI 50 list, which is an accolade that cements its position as a top AI company in the USA.
2. Databricks
This is one of the most popular companies among data scientists in the USA. It develops and sells a cloud, unified and open big data processing platform “lakehouse”, which offers data scientists one of the best collaborative environments and a perfect alternative for Google’s MapReduce.
It was co-founded in 2013 by the founders of Apache Spark – Ali Ghodsi, Matei Zaharia, Reynold Xin, and Ion Stoica, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its mission is to “Accelerate innovation by unifying data science, engineering, and business.” and true to this feat, some of its major clients include Shell, ABN Amro, Conde-Nast, HSBC, Regeneron, and H&M.
Growth-wise, by August 2021 Databricks’s valuation stood at a whopping $38 billion, having attracted total funding of $3.6 billion over 10 rounds. It has had three major acquisitions to date; Cortex labs (25th April 2022), 8080 labs (6th October 2021), and Redash (24th June 2020). On Gartner.com, Databricks’s reviews are nothing but impressive, with 5-star ratings at 58%, 4-star ratings at 40%, 3-star ratings at 2%, and 2 and 1-star ratings at 0%.
3. DataRobot, Inc.
Hailed as the next generation of AI, DataRobot Is an example of a platform AI company. It offers a subscription-based platform aimed at democratizing and accelerating access to AI & ML to all enterprises through automation. By building, deploying, and managing ML models, they allow users without analytics or data science backgrounds to enhance their scopes.
Founded in 2012 by Jeremy Achins and Tom d Godoy in Boston, Massachusetts, Datarobot has grown to a valuation of $ 6.3 billion, attracting funding of $300 million and making two major acquisitions; Nutonian and Nexosis on May 25th, 2017, and July 10th, 2018 respectively.
Datarobot Inc. is trusted by a third of the Fortune 50 companies according to their website and was recently named in CB Insights 2022 A100 ranking which showcases the 100 most promising private artificial intelligence companies in the world.
4. ScaleLab
This is a top AI data platform that provides an end-to-end solution for managing the entire ML cycle. It works with teams of contractors to help developers complete menial and mundane tasks that cannot be done by computers, as well as monitor and categorize visual data and train AI systems.
Co-founded in 2016 by Alexandr Wang and Lucy Guo in San Francisco California, ScaleLab has revolutionized the Data Science & Analytics industry by enabling acceleration of AI applications development, with some of its major clients being Airbnb, General Motors, Nvidia, and Pinterest.
Growth-wise ScaleLabs has so far attracted total funding of $602.6 million over 7 rounds from 27 investors. Five years after its foundation, ScaleLab acquired ShiaSearch (November 3rd, 2021), and was also featured in Gartner Inc.’s Hype Cycles for Data Science AI & ML as a representative vendor for Data Labeling and Annotation.
5. Aurora Innovation Inc.
This is a Nasdaq-listed transportation and robotics company offering self-driving technology that can transport both people and goods. They develop both driverless passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and heavy-duty trucks.
It was co-founded in 2017 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania by Chris Urmson (Former CTO Waymo – Google self-driving cars team), Sterling Anderson (Former head of Tesla Autopilot), and Drew Bagnell (Former Uber autonomy and perception team) with a mission to transform the future of transportation and robotics; and “deliver the benefits of self-driving safely, quickly and broadly”
It has grown into partnerships with US Xpress and Toyota and acquired: Blackmore Sensors and Analytics (May 23rd, 2019), Uber Advanced Technology group (Dec 7th, 2020), and OURS Technology (Feb 26th, 2021). The funding it has attracted so far stands at $2.1 billion over 7 rounds, with the latest one being on November 4th, 2021.
Final thoughts
The aforementioned AI companies have been founded by former employees or founders who saw a need to specialize and solve specific problems using AI. Their popularity and influence are defined by the impact they make, which is justified by the massive funding, partnerships, the clientele they attract, the rapid growth rate they have undergone through their massive acquisitions, their inspiring missions, and the decorated ratings and accolades they receive from users and reputed organizations respectively. This proactive approach by entrepreneurs, the government, and the populace at large are what sustains the US as the undisputed superpower in the AI field.
Read also: What’s the Difference Between Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning