Backed by Nvidia’s Vote of Confidence: Baseten Aims for $2B Funding to Boost Valuation to $30B
The AI technology market is witnessing rapid investment shifts as US-based infrastructure startup Baseten enters advanced talks for a massive funding round of up to $2 billion. The round is expected to jump the company's total valuation to $30 billion, more than doubling its previous $13 billion valuation recorded last June.
A Two-Phase Financing Plan Led by Sands Capital
Headquartered in San Francisco, the company plans to execute the funding round in two consecutive phases: starting at a $26 billion valuation in the first phase, and rising to $30 billion in the second. Sands Capital, an existing investor, is expected to lead the new funding round, coming just months after Baseten raised $1.5 billion in its Series F round.
AI Inference: The Primary Growth Engine
Founded in 2019, Baseten focuses on powering enterprise software infrastructure to run AI models efficiently. The company specializes in providing "inference" technologies—the stage where trained models are deployed and converted into actionable production applications, speeding up data processing while reducing operating costs. Baseten's technology caught the attention of tech giant Nvidia, which highlighted its solutions in a specialized case study as a benchmark for running cloud-based AI inference at scale.
Computing Race Sparks Fierce Competition Among Startups
This funding reflects a major pivot in investor interest toward the execution and infrastructure sector, moving beyond the initial race of just building AI models. Baseten's move comes alongside similar steps by competitors like Fireworks AI, which successfully raised $1.5 billion last July at a valuation reaching $17.5 billion. It is worth noting that the terms for Baseten’s deal remain under negotiation, and final figures may change prior to the official closing.