A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Artificial intelligence startups have minted dozens of new billionaires this year, adding to an AI boom that’s quickly becoming the largest wealth creation spree in recent history.
Blockbuster fundraising rounds this year for Anthropic, Safe Superintelligence, OpenAI, Anysphere and other startups have created vast new paper fortunes and propelled valuations to record levels. There are now 498 AI “unicorns,” or private AI companies with valuations of $1 billion or more, with a combined value of $2.7 trillion, according to CB Insights. Fully 100 of them were founded since 2023. There are more than 1,300 AI startups with valuations of over $100 million, the firm said.
Combined with the soaring stock prices of Nvidia
, Meta
