Ranking of top-funded AI startup companies in the US 2016-2021

Between 2016 and 2021, the top-funded artificial intelligence (AI) startup company in the United States was that of the New York company UiPath, with almost two billion U.S. dollars in total equity funding. Other noteworthy U.S. AI startups were that of Nuro, Indigo Ag, and Tempus. These were all startups with over one billion U.S. dollars in equity funding. Many of these startups are robotic process automation (RPA) companies that are situated in a growing market.

AI funding

The North American artificial intelligence market, anticipated to be valued at 20 billion U.S. dollars, continues to grow driven by the influx of investments it receives. Over the past decade or so, the global funding of artificial intelligence startups has grown dramatically, with the United States contributing a significant portion of the overall AI funding each quarter. Another noteworthy country for private investments in AI is China.

AI in China and the U.S.

China, similar to the U.S., is a country at the forefront of artificial intelligence. Of the two most valued AI unicorn companies in the world, ByteDance and UiPath, China and the U.S. maintain the headquarter locations of each of the startup. ByteDance, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company that created the AI and machine learning algorithms for TikTok (known as Douyin in China), is the largest AI unicorn startup in the world, with a valuation of approximately 140 billion U.S. dollars. It is worth noting that although the U.S. is considered the highest-ranked government on the worldwide index for AI readiness, China may be more advanced than the U.S. in terms of AI implementation in the public sector, as it has made implementing AI capabilities to public services a top government priority.