Inception to the Rule: AI Startups Thrive Amid Tough 2020

2020 served up a global pandemic that roiled the economy. Yet the startup ecosystem has managed to thrive and even flourish amid the tumult. That may be no coincidence.

Crisis breeds opportunity. And nowhere has that been more prevalent than with startups using AI, machine learning and data science to address a worldwide medical emergency and the upending of typical workplace practices.

This is also reflected in NVIDIA Inception, our program to nurture startups transforming industries with AI and data science. Here are a few highlights from a tremendous year for the program and the members it's designed to propel toward growth and success.

Increased membership:

Inception hit a record 7,000 members - that's up 25 percent on the year.

IT services, healthcare, and media and entertainment were the top three segments, reflecting the global pandemic's impact on remote work, medicine and home-based entertainment.

Early-stage and seed-stage startups continue to lead the rate of joining NVIDIA Inception. This has been a consistent trend over recent years.

Startups ramp up:

100+ Inception startups reached the program's Premier level, which unlocks increased marketing support, engineering access and exposure to senior customer contacts.

Developers from Inception startups enrolled in more than 2,000 sessions with the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute, which offers hands-on training and workshops.

GPU Ventures, the venture capital arm of NVIDIA Inception, made investments in three startup companies - Plotly, Artisight and Rescale.

Deepening partnerships:

NVIDIA Inception added Oracle's Oracle for Startups program to its list of accelerator partners, which already includes AWS Activate and Microsoft for Startups, as well as a variety of regional programs. These tie-ups open the door for startups to access free cloud credits, new marketing channels, expanded customer networks, and other benefits across programs.

The NVIDIA Inception Alliance for Healthcare launched earlier this month, starting with healthcare leaders GE Healthcare and Nuance, to provide a clear go-to-market path for medical imaging startups.

At its core, NVIDIA Inception is about forging connections for prime AI startups, finding new paths for them to pursue success, and providing them with the tools or resources to take their business to the next level.

Read more about NVIDIA Inception partners on our blog and learn more about the program at https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/deep-learning-ai/startups/.

LINK:	https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/12/18/inception-ai-startups-milesto...
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