More Billionaires in San Francisco Than in New York
The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has led to the emergence of a new generation of billionaires from AI startups that have attracted massive amounts of capital.
On August 10 (local time), U.S. business media outlet CNBC reported, citing market research firm CB Insights, that there are currently 498 unicorn companies?privately held startups valued at over $1 billion?in the AI industry, with their combined value reaching $2.7 trillion.
Notably, 100 of these AI unicorns were founded after 2023, and there are more than 1,300 startups in the sector valued at over $100 million. The soaring stock prices of publicly traded AI-related companies such as Nvidia, Meta, and Microsoft have driven up the valuations of AI startups as well. As a result, CNBC explained, a new generation of billionaires is emerging.
Previously, Bloomberg estimated in March that at least 15 billionaires had been created at the top four most valuable private AI companies. Among the recently spotlighted AI startups is Thinking Machine Lab, founded in February by Mira Murati, formerly of OpenAI, which is now valued at $12 billion.
Additionally, the current valuation of Anthropic, a startup well known for its AI model "Claude," has surged to nearly $170 billion?almost triple its March valuation. As a result, the company's CEO, Dario Amodei, along with six other co-founders, are likely to have become billionaires.
The valuation of Anysphere, the developer of the AI coding tool "Cursor," is also estimated at between $18 billion and $20 billion, making it likely that the company's CEO, Michael Truell, has also joined the ranks of billionaires.
The boom in AI startups is concentrated in San Francisco, which is home to 82 billionaires, surpassing New York's 66. In particular, the number of millionaires in the Bay Area along the San Francisco Bay has doubled over the past decade, outpacing New York's growth rate of 45% during the same period. In addition, Silicon Valley companies raised more than $3.5 billion in venture capital last year.
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