Veeda AI, a startup founded by Nvidia researcher Sanja Fidler, has raised $90 million in seed funding to develop multimodal world models—simulated environments designed to train robots and AI agents.
The round, co-led by Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures, is one of the largest seed financings ever raised by a Canadian startup and closed just three months after the company's founding.
Fidler argues that robots cannot effectively learn through real-world trial and error because hardware doesn't scale like compute, making high-fidelity simulation essential for physical AI infrastructure.
What happened
Veeda AI, led by former Nvidia researcher Sanja Fidler, raised $90 million in a seed funding round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures, just three months after the startup was founded. The round is one of the largest seed financings ever raised by a Canadian startup.
Why it matters
Veeda develops multimodal world models—high-fidelity simulated environments that allow robots and AI agents to learn through repeated interactions without the cost, safety risk, and parallelization limits of real-world trial and error. Fidler's LinkedIn post states that robots need simulated reality to scale interactive learning, positioning Veeda's technology as critical infrastructure for physical AI and robotics.
What to watch
The startup's backers are also investing in other world model makers; Khosla led a $750 million round for autonomous trucking company Waabi Innovation Inc. in January, while Radical backed Fei-Fei Li's World Labs Inc., which raised $500 million in January, and Decart.ai Inc., which raised $300 million in May.
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Veeda AI's $90 million seed round reflects a broader industry shift toward world models as foundational infrastructure for robotics and physical AI. The startup's founding just three months before the round and its ranking as one of the largest seed financings for a Canadian startup signal strong investor confidence in Sanja Fidler's vision and the market opportunity. Fidler's pedigree—establishing and leading Nvidia's Toronto research lab and contributing to Nvidia's first world models for physical AI—provides substantial technical credibility.
The investment also sits within a pattern of major venture backing for world model infrastructure. Both lead investors, Khosla and Radical, are simultaneously backing competing and complementary approaches: Khosla led Waabi's $750 million round for autonomous driving simulation in January, while Radical backed Fei-Fei Li's World Labs (which raised $500 million in January) and Decart.ai ($300 million in May). This clustering of large rounds suggests venture capitalists view simulated environments as a critical enabling layer for multiple robotics and autonomous systems applications, each with distinct requirements but unified by the need for high-fidelity simulation at scale.
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