AI 推理初创公司 Fal 以 160 亿美元估值融资 13 亿美元
AI Inference Startup Fal Raises Capital at $16 Billion Valuation
AI 推理初创公司 Fal 宣布完成 13 亿美元融资，估值升至 160 亿美元，较 4 月红杉领投一轮的 80 亿美元翻倍。本轮由现有投资者 Bessemer Venture Partners 领投，NVIDIA、Sound Ventures、HOF Capital 和 T. Rowe Price 参投，Bessemer 合伙人 Talia Goldberg 将加入董事会。
报道给出融资金额、估值翻倍细节和扩产动因，读者可据此了解 AI 推理服务的需求热度与竞争格局。
Fal, an AI inference startup that hosts image, video and audio models for creators and developers, has doubled its valuation to $16 billion in a new round of funding.
Bessemer Venture Partners, an existing investor, led a $1.3 billion financing round in the startup in October, Fal is set to announce Tuesday. Other investors include Nvidia Corp., Sound Ventures, HOF Capital and T. Rowe Price Group Inc. Fal previously raised $350 million in a Sequoia-led round in April at an $8 billion valuation.
Talia Goldberg, a partner at Bessemer, is joining the startup’s board.
Fal’s business has expanded in response to developers’ growing appetite for more inference, or the process of running AI systems after they’ve been trained. Other startups offering AI inferencing services, including Modal and Baseten, have also been in discussions to raise money at steep valuations, Bloomberg News previously reported.
Fal opted to raise such a large amount in part because a surge of demand meant it needed to get more computing power, said chief executive officer and co-founder Burkay Gur. “We hit a point in summer where we were not able to serve our customers and had to rate limit them,” Gur said.