Australia’s Blackbird Backs Baseten at $13B Valuation in AI Infrastructure Bet
Synopsis
AI infrastructure startup Baseten has secured $1.5 billion in Series F funding, valuing the company at $13 billion. Australian venture capital firm Blackbird joined the round as Baseten looks to expand computing capacity, strengthen its software platform and meet growing demand for AI inference services.
California-based artificial intelligence startup Baseten has raised $1.5 billion in a Series F funding round led by Sands Capital and Wellington Management, valuing the company at $13 billion.
Australian venture capital firm Blackbird participated in the funding round, adding a local investment angle to one of the largest AI infrastructure raises of the year.
The company said it would use the proceeds to expand computing capacity, enhance its software platform and grow its workforce as demand for artificial intelligence applications continues to rise.
AI Infrastructure Platform Targets Growing Inference Demand
Founded in 2019 by Tuhin Srivastava, Amir Haghighat, Philip Howes and Pankaj Gupta, Baseten provides software and infrastructure that allows businesses to deploy and manage artificial intelligence models.
The company offers model deployment tools, inference software, computing resources and fine-tuning capabilities, allowing customers to run AI applications without managing the underlying infrastructure.
Baseten specialises in AI inference, the stage at which trained models generate responses and predictions for real-world applications.
Its platform combines computing capacity from more than 20 cloud providers with proprietary software, helping companies deploy and customise AI models using their own data.
The company has positioned itself as a provider of infrastructure for businesses seeking to deploy open-source AI models without relying entirely on proprietary systems.
Customer Growth and Investor Interest
Baseten serves more than 100 customers, including Cursor, Mercor and OpenEvidence.
Several customers have shifted workloads to open-source models using the company's infrastructure to reduce computing costs and improve flexibility.
The latest funding round marks Baseten's fourth capital raise in less than two years, underscoring continued investor appetite for AI infrastructure companies as businesses increase spending on artificial intelligence tools and computing capacity.
Source: Reuters
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Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
