Billionaire Jeff Bezos and Cathie Wood Joined Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, and OpenAI in Funding 1 of 2024's Most Intriguing AI Start-Ups
There’s little question that artificial intelligence (AI) has been on a hot streak over the past year or so, and that trend shows little signs of slowing.
It isn’t just average investors that are bullish on these developments. Billionaires, venture capital firms, and some of the world’s biggest tech companies have AI fever — and one start-up in particular is attracting a lot of attention.
AI artificial intelligence-powered robots sitting at a conference room table typing on laptops.
Some of the biggest names in technology
Figure AI is working on a humanoid robot — dubbed Figure 01 — that has attracted a lot of attention. It was founded by serial entrepreneur Brett Adcock, who also founded Archer Aviation — an aerospace company working on an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
In its most recent funding round, the start-up attracted financing from billionaire Jeff Bezos and Ark Investment Management’s Cathie Wood, as well as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and AI wunderkind OpenAI — the start-up that arguably kicked off the AI revolution. Figure AI raised roughly $675 million, which valued the start-up at roughly $2.6 billion.
Figure AI developed an autonomous robot that can help alleviate labor shortages in warehouses, transportation, and retail. Just last week, Figure released a video to demonstrate its progress. It says these fields have 7 million unfilled jobs and not enough workers to fill them. Figure recently announced its first commercial agreement to supply BMW with general-purpose robots for automotive production.
How can investors get in on the action?
It might be difficult for investors to invest directly in Figure AI, as the start-up is privately held, but they can invest indirectly. For example, Microsoft is among the largest investors at $95 million, so buying shares of Microsoft will get you indirect exposure to Figure AI, though a very small amount.
However, there are plenty of other reasons to buy Microsoft to take part in the AI revolution.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Danny Vena has positions in Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.