AI inference startup Baseten has reportedly raised $1.5 billion months after its latest mega round

AI inference company Baseten is close to closing a stunning $1.5 billion funding round at a $13 billion valuation. The Wall Street Journal reports. Just five months ago, the startup announced that it had raised a sum $300 million Series E With a valuation of $5 billion. That round was only nine months after A $150 million Series D.

If completed, this latest round would represent a 160% increase in valuation in less than half a year. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that this is Split price toura tactic used by startups to boost their key valuation and make key investors look good on paper. Sources told the newspaper that some investors in this latest financing round will receive a valuation of $13 billion, while the valuation of others reaches $11 billion. The deal is said to be jointly led by Spark Capital, Sands Capital, Altimeter Capital and Wellington Management.

Launched in 2019, Baseten is a startup capitalizing on what The Next Wave has praised “Inference to the gold rush” Venture capital pumps huge amounts of money into companies that build the inference layer. Inference is what the model does after a user submits a prompt. Baseten promises to handle inference quickly while controlling costs by directing requests to the best model for the task, especially to competent and less expensive open source alternatives.