Modal Labs Nears $750M Round at $15.75B Valuation as AI Inference Demand Surges
aiinsider ·
AI inference infrastructure provider Modal Labs is nearing a $750 million funding round led by Accel, which values the company at $15.75 billion. This valuation represents a significant increase from the $4.65 billion reached just four months prior during a previous raise of $355 million. The surge in valuation reflects soaring demand for AI inference services, particularly among customers utilizing open-source models. Founded in 2021 by Erik Bernhardsson and Akshat Bubna, the New York-based firm allows developers to run compute-heavy workloads without managing servers. The company has surpassed $300 million in annualized revenue and serves notable clients such as Cognition, Suno, Ramp, and Substack. While rivals like Baseten and Fireworks are also discussing higher valuations, thin margins persist due to the high costs of compute. Despite a recent data breach involving a customer's unauthenticated endpoint, Modal stated its own platform remained secure.
aiinsider