xAI·Mistral·SafeSI, attracting trillions of Korean won in investment within 2 years... AI startup explosion

In the first three years of startup formation, 46 unicorn companies have attracted over $39 billion (approximately 56.16 trillion KRW) in new investments this year alone, demonstrating the strong growth momentum of the artificial intelligence venture capital market. All of these companies are expected to become unicorns by 2025 or have completed large-scale funding rounds while maintaining their unicorn status.

Among them, the top three highest-valued companies have all shown outstanding performance in the generative artificial intelligence field. Elon Musk’s xAI, Paris-based Mistral AI, and Safe Superintelligence founded by Ilya Sutskever, former chief scientist at OpenAI, have attracted market attention with the largest investment amounts and corporate valuations in this sector.

Since its establishment in July 2023, xAI has raised over $12 billion (approximately 17.28 trillion KRW) in venture capital in just over two years. Mistral secured $3 billion (approximately 4.32 trillion KRW) in less than two years after its founding, with the company’s valuation surpassing $14 billion (approximately 20.16 trillion KRW). Safe Superintelligence, founded only 18 months ago, also successfully raised at least $3 billion, confirming the development potential of AI startups.

Their growth is no coincidence. This year, in the AI ecosystem, large-scale funding (“super rounds”) centered on startups established less than three years ago continues to spread. According to Crunchbase data, within just 2025, startups founded less than three years ago have raised over $115 billion (approximately 165.6 trillion KRW) in single rounds exceeding $100 million (approximately 144 billion KRW), surpassing the peak market levels of 2021.

Active funding inflows are also evident in non-AI sectors. Companies in robotics and energy storage such as Skild AI, Field AI, and Physical Intelligence have completed major funding rounds. Companies providing home batteries like Base Power and cloud backup solutions like Eon have each received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, achieving rapid growth.

Experts interpret this phenomenon as an indication that venture capitalists are boldly betting on early-stage potential entrepreneurs and technologies. The market clearly shows a trend of early discovery and large-scale investment in high-probability success projects to seize market opportunities. Although some of these companies may face failure, several have grown into industry core players in a short period, proving their value.

The next-generation startup era, combining AI and technological innovation, is seen as an inevitable trend rather than an optional direction. From the flow of venture funds to the market dominance of companies, this transformation is expected to accelerate continuously in the future.