AI21 Labs
Israeli artificial-intelligence company in Tel Aviv developing large language models and the Maestro agent platform; co-founded by Ori Goshen, who served in Unit 8200
| AI21 Labs
| |
|---|---|
| Trade name | AI21 Labs Ltd (איי אי 21 מעבדות בע"מ) |
| Logo |  AI21 Labs logo |
| Type | Private company; Israeli company number 515741320 |
| Founded | 7 November 2017 |
| Founder(s) | Amnon Shashua, Yoav Shoham, Ori Goshen |
| Headquarters | 14 Leonardo da Vinci Street, Tel Aviv 6473117, Israel |
| Industry | Artificial intelligence; large language models |
| Services | Jamba language models; Maestro AI agent orchestration platform; Wordtune (discontinued) |
| Homepage | ai21.com |
AI21 Labs (AI21 Labs Ltd) is an Israeli artificial-intelligence (AI) company based in Tel Aviv that develops large language models (LLMs) for businesses and an AI agent platform called Maestro.[1] It was founded in 2017 by Amnon Shashua, the co-founder of Mobileye, Yoav Shoham, a professor emeritus at Stanford University, and Ori Goshen.[2] According to Contrary Research, Goshen "joined their 8200 tech unit" (Unit 8200) when he was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).[1] Its investors include Nvidia and Google.[2]
History
The Israeli company AI21 Labs Ltd was registered on 7 November 2017, with company number 515741320, according to its Legal Entity Identifier record. That record gives its legal and head-office address as 14 Leonardo da Vinci Street, Tel Aviv 6473117.[3] The company held an event at its offices at that address, on the fourth floor, in November 2025, as part of Israel's National AI Program.[4]
Contrary Research says that Goshen was introduced to Yoav Shoham through his wife, who ran a programming bootcamp with Shoham, and that Amnon Shashua then joined them. The company came out of stealth in October 2020. Its first product was Wordtune, a consumer AI writing tool, and in 2021 it released its first large model, Jurassic-1, followed by the Jamba family in March 2024 and Maestro in March 2025.[1]
Funding
According to Ctech, AI21 raised $208 million in late 2023 at a valuation of $1.4 billion, with Intel Capital and Comcast Ventures taking part, and in May 2025 it was raising a $300 million Series D round backed by Google and Nvidia, which would bring its total funding to $636 million.[2] Contrary Research says the Series D was led by Nvidia and Alphabet, and lists Samsung Next, Google Israel, Coatue, Intel Capital and 8VC among earlier investors.[1]
Sale talks and cuts, 2026
In late December 2025 Israeli media reported that AI21 was to be sold to Nvidia. On 7 January 2026 Shashua told Bloomberg that "There are talks with Nvidia and others, but nothing is close enough to talk about it in the media". On 12 January 2026 the company issued a statement saying that "reports of negotiations for a possible acquisition are incorrect. The company has not held discussions with Nvidia about an acquisition", according to Globes.[5] Calcalist had reported advanced talks with Nvidia at a valuation of $2 billion to $3 billion. In April 2026 Ctech, citing The Information, reported that AI21 was in acquisition talks with the AI infrastructure company Nebius.[6]
In May 2026 Ynet reported that the Nebius talks had ended, with the two companies signing a business co-operation agreement instead, and that AI21 would cut its workforce from about 180 to about 70, most of them in Israel, stop selling its language models on their own, and concentrate on Maestro.[7]
Founders and military service
- Ori Goshen, co-chief executive: Contrary Research writes that "When he was drafted to the Israeli Defense Force, he joined their 8200 tech unit and began programming professionally" (Unit 8200). He later worked at the mobile start-up Fring and in 2009 founded the telecoms analytics firm Crowdx.[1] In an interview published by the venture-capital firm Pitango, Goshen said: "My time in the IDF's Intelligence Corps, though, was a real turning point" (Intelligence Corps), adding that "the stakes were incredibly high – lives depended on the software we were creating".[8]
- Amnon Shashua, chairman: a computer-science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and co-founder of Mobileye.[1]
- Yoav Shoham, co-chief executive: professor emeritus of computer science at Stanford University and a former principal scientist at Google.[1]
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Sunshine Chen, AI21 Labs Contrary Research, 4 September 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Meir Orbach, AI21 Labs raising $300 million Series D to build reliable AI for enterprise Ctech, 10 May 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Bloomberg LEI, איי אי 21 מעבדות בע"מ (AI21 Labs Ltd), LEI 98450004B4667DCBF847 Bloomberg LEI, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ AI21 Labs, AI21 Labs & Data.IL: Israeli Innovation in AI & Data AI21, 5 November 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Assaf Gilead, AI21 Labs denies Nvidia acquisition talks Globes, 12 January 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Ctech, Nebius in talks to acquire AI21 after Nvidia deal falls through Ctech, 9 April 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Meir Orbach, Amnon Shashua's AI firm cuts over 60% of staff after sale talks collapse Ynetnews, 18 May 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Pitango, Founder Story: Ori Goshen – AI21 Labs Pitango, 18 March 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.