Google Cloud Locks in the Most-Watched AI Startups

At this year’s Google Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas, Google pulled out all the stops. From unveiling Ironwood, its next-gen AI chip, to introducing Gemini 2.5 Flash, a speed-optimized version of its flagship AI model, the company showcased its ambition to lead the cloud race for AI workloads.

But beyond the tech, one of the biggest headlines was the growing number of elite AI startups choosing Google Cloud as their infrastructure partner. The list includes some of the most well-funded and hyped names in the industry, and it’s clearly part of Google’s strategy to close the gap with Microsoft Azure and AWS in the booming AI arms race.

SSI, Cursor, Hebbia, and More Join Google AI Cloud Ecosystem

Leading the list is Safe Superintelligence (SSI)—the ultra-secretive AGI startup founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Although SSI hasn’t released a product, it’s already raised billions and is using Google Cloud to power its research ambitions.

Another headline-grabber is Anysphere, the team behind Cursor, an AI-powered code editor that’s been called a serious challenger to GitHub Copilot. Google says Cursor uses Anthropic’s Claude models—running on Google Cloud, of course. The company recently hit a jaw-dropping $10 billion valuation, according to insiders.

Hebbia, which uses AI to search and extract information from large documents, is already making waves in legal and enterprise markets. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Google Ventures, and Peter Thiel, Hebbia raised a $130M Series B earlier this year and runs on Google’s Gemini models.

Then there’s Magic, another ambitious player aiming to build frontier models for coding and research automation. Unsurprisingly, its close ties to Google—including backing from CapitalG and Eric Schmidt—made Google Cloud a natural choice for infrastructure. Magic uses the platform’s GPUs for model training.

Physical Intelligence, a robotics software startup, is also onboard. The company, which raised $400M at a $2B valuation last November, counts Sequoia, Jeff Bezos, Lux Capital, and Thrive Capital as investors. Several of its founders hail from Google DeepMind, and they’re building foundational tools for intelligent robots.

France-based Photoroom, known for its slick AI photo editing tools, is tapping into Google Cloud’s Imagen 3 and Veo 2 models for image and video generation. And Synthesia, famous for its hyper-realistic AI avatars, is using multiple Google models after raising $180M at a $2.1B valuation.

Google’s Bet on VCs and Credits to Attract the Next Big Thing

Google isn’t just chasing today’s biggest AI names—it’s planting seeds for tomorrow’s giants. It announced Lightspeed Venture Partners as a new cloud VC partner, joining Sequoia and Y Combinator. Through this program, portfolio startups can access $150,000 in credits, plus early access to Google’s AI chips and models.

It’s a clever move. By creating a pipeline of promising startups tied to its cloud infrastructure, Google is betting that loyalty built early will pay off as these companies scale.