It’s fair to say that AI is all over the 12th annual CNBC Disruptor 50 list.
Roughly two-thirds of the 50 companies making the Disruptor 50 list describe artificial intelligence as “critical” to their businesses. And it starts at the very top: for the first time ever, a company repeats as the list ‘s No. 1: OpenAI.
AI’s remaking of the market extends much further. Thirteen of the 2024 Disruptors call themselves “generative AI companies,” including five of the top 10 on this year’s list, a group that in all raised at least $5.5 billion from investors in the past year.
Companies in industries ranging from cybersecurity to agriculture are also defining AI as mission critical. And in an important shift from the past Silicon Valley-led disruptive innovation era, the “better, faster, cheaper” mantra funded almost wholly by VCs is on the way out.
AI requires massive capital investment, inevitably leading to close partnership with the incumbent giants rather than just disruptive competition.
In all, the 2024 Disruptors have raised $70 billion at a total implied valuation of $436 billion.
