Who is betting on what in AI, and against whom.
Sakana AI
Evolutionary model merging and AI Scientist: half experience camp, half substrate camp.
- HQ
- Tokyo
- Founded
- Jul 2023
- Web
- sakana.ai
- Camps
- Experience / RL Other substrates Physics AI
What it does
Founded by transformer co-author Llion Jones with David Ha and Ren Ito. Sakana searches over models instead of training one giant one: evolutionary model merging, and the AI Scientist that runs research loops end to end. Raised $135M at $2.65B in November 2025.
Camp membership over time
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dates not recordedLearn from experienceSources Sakana AI raises $135M Series B at a $2.65B valuation TechCrunch via Yahoo Finance 2025-11-17
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dates not recordedProgram search and other substrates (secondary)Sources Sakana AI raises $135M Series B at a $2.65B valuation TechCrunch via Yahoo Finance 2025-11-17
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dates not recordedPhysics AI and AI for science (secondary)Sources Sakana AI raises $135M Series B at a $2.65B valuation TechCrunch via Yahoo Finance 2025-11-17
Capital
| Amount | Kind | Valuation | Date | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30M | seed | Jan 2024 | Lux Capital, Khosla Ventures, NTT | Sakana AI | |
| $214M | Series A | $1.5B post-money | Sep 2024 | NEA, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Nvidia, MUFG, SMBC, Mizuho Reported as over $100M initially, $214M including Japanese corporate investors. | Sakana AI |
| $135M | Series B | $2.65B post-money | Nov 2025 | MUFG, Khosla Ventures, Macquarie, NEA, Lux Capital, In-Q-Tel | TechCrunch via Yahoo Finance |
