If you work in tech, you've heard about artificial intelligence: how it's going to replace us, whether it's over-hyped or not and which nations will leverage it to prevent, or instigate, war. Our editorial bent is more clear-cut: How much money is going into startups? Who is putting that money in? So let's talk about the state of AI startups and how much capital is being raised. Here's what I can tell you: funding totals for AI startups are growing year-over-year; I just don't know precisely how quickly. Regardless, startups are certainly raising massive sums of money off the buzzword.

At biotech startup Zymergen, robotic fingers are poised to pick microbe colonies in an AI-controlled quest for strains that crank out more chemicals. EMERYVILLE, CALIFORNIA--If this is the biology laboratory of the future, it doesn't look so different from today's. Scientists in white lab coats walk by with boxes of frozen tubes. The chemicals on the shelves--bottles of pure alcohol, bins of sugar, protein, and salts--are standard issue for growing microbes and manipulating their genes. You don't even notice the robots until you hear them: They sound like crickets singing to each other amid the low roar of fans.

When you read about what some startups are doing these days it seems like you're reading a sci-fi book. Earlier this year we published an article titled "3 Companies Building Nanorobot Companies" and we talked about using software, robots, and synthetic biology to engineer synthetic organisms (essentially nanorobots) that can be used to create efficiencies. According to BCC Research, the global market for microbes and microbial products was projected to approach 154.7 billion in 2015 and almost double to 306 billion by 2020. Healthcare is largest consumer of microbes (61%) followed by energy (24%) and manufacturing (13%). The massive size of the microbe industry is just begging for a bit of disruptive technology to address it and that's exactly what Zymergen is getting up to.

We're excited by Zymergen's latest funding of 130 million to aggressively scale its machine learning and applied robotics platform. This platform enables precision engineering biology at industrial scale and quality, optimizing existing products and producing breakthrough new ones in agriculture, life-sciences, and manufacturing. It was an easy decision for us to continue to invest in Zymergen, which we've backed since its seed. Their technology lead is huge and self-reinforcing, and they have an impressive number of global Fortune 500 customers, outstanding financial metrics, and a world-class team. We're pleased that this success attracted the support of SoftBank, which brings Deep Nishar to join us on the Zymergen Board.

WIRE)--Zymergen, a technology company unlocking the power of biology, announced today that it has raised 130 million USD in Series B funding led by SoftBank Group (TOKYO: 9984). The round also includes prior lead investor Data Collective (DCVC), as well as return investors True Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, DFJ, Innovation Endeavors, Obvious Ventures, and Two Sigma Ventures. New investors include Iconiq Capital, Prelude Ventures, and Tao Capital Partners. Zymergen also announced two additions to its Board of Directors: former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel laureate Dr. Steven Chu, and SoftBank Group International Managing Director Deep Nishar, previously a longtime senior executive at Google and LinkedIn. Zymergen has developed a proprietary platform, which uses robots and machine learning to engineer microbes faster, more predictably, and to a level of performance previously unattainable.