What was shown at Google Cloud Next: top AI startups

Google Cloud Next took place in Las Vegas, where Google unveiled dozens of new capabilities, including its next-generation AI processors named Ironwood and the latest AI model, Gemini 2.5 Flash. A curated list of AI startups that have signed agreements to use Google Cloud was also published, featuring some of the most anticipated and discussed startups in the world.

Safe Superintelligence
A startup founded by one of OpenAI’s co-founders and former Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever. SSI reached a $30 billion valuation in a funding round led by Greenoaks Capital. Despite having no revenue and approximately 20 employees, the company has attracted significant investor interest.

Anysphere
The developer of the popular AI code editor Cursor. According to Google, Cursor runs on Anthropic’s Claude models on Google Cloud infrastructure. According to TechCrunch, the company was recently valued at $10 billion. Cursor’s main competitor is GitHub Copilot, making Microsoft its direct rival.

Hebbia
A startup that applies AI to search for information in large documents and answer questions—particularly in high demand in the legal sector. Its $130 million Series B round was led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other participants included Index Ventures, Google Ventures, and Peter Thiel. Hebbia uses Google’s Gemini models.

Magic
A company creating advanced AI models for automating programming and scientific research. Choosing Google Cloud was a logical move, given that Magic raised $320 million in 2024. Investors include CapitalG, Alphabet, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. According to Google, Magic uses Google Cloud GPUs.

Physical Intelligence
Develops foundational software for robots. Among its co-founders are prominent figures, including investor Lucky Groman. In November, the startup raised $400 million at a pre-money valuation of $2 billion. Investors include Sequoia, Jeff Bezos, Lux Capital, and Thrive Capital. Some of the founders previously worked at Google DeepMind, including Karel Hausman and Chelsea Finn.

Photoroom
One of Paris’s leading AI startups—the city rapidly becoming a hub for European AI. The company offers an AI photo editor and uses Google’s Veo 2 for video generation, as well as Imagen 3 for text-to-image tasks.

Synthesia
Develops technology for creating realistic AI avatars and uses various Google models. In January, the company raised $180 million at a $2.1 billion valuation. The round was led by NEA, with Google Ventures also among the investors.

Google Cloud is actively expanding its portfolio of promising AI startups to strengthen its position in competition with Microsoft Azure and, to some extent, AWS in the cloud AI computing space. Google also announced that it has added the Lightspeed fund to its list of partner venture funds alongside Sequoia and Y Combinator. Portfolio companies from these funds gain access to Google’s AI chips and models. Additionally, startups from the Lightspeed portfolio will be eligible for $150,000 in cloud credits.

Additionally, Google presented other AI-focused startups:

— Augment Code — AI assistant for programming
— Autoscience — AI agents for scientific research
— Big Sur AI — personalized recommendations for e-commerce
— Captions — AI service for creating video content with voiceover and editing
— Eon.io — autonomous data backup and recovery for enterprises
— fal is — text-to-image and image-to-video generation
— Spot AI — AI systems for video surveillance
— Story — blockchain platform for storing and licensing intellectual property
— StudyHall AI — AI tutors for students in reading, writing, and exam preparation
— Ubie — Japanese AI for symptom analysis
— Udio — music creation service
— Ufonia — AI agent for clinical consultations with patients
— Wagestream — financial platform supporting charitable organizations
— Wondercraft — generation of realistic audio content using GenAI.

Source: cloud.google.com