Modal Labs, a startup developing AI inference infrastructure, is in talks to raise new funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported on Feb. 11 local time.
If the round is completed, Modal Labs' valuation would rise by more than double from $1.1 billion five months ago.
General Catalyst is expected to lead the investment. Modal Labs' annual recurring revenue is said to be about $50 million. The talks are at an early stage and final terms could change.
Modal Labs is focused on boosting the efficiency of "inference", which runs trained AI models and responds to user requests. Rival Baseten recently raised $300 million at a $5 billion valuation, and Fireworks AI secured $250 million at a $4 billion valuation.
The team behind the open-source inference project vLLM also transitioned into a VC-backed startup called "Infrakt" and received $150 million in seed funding at an $800 million valuation. The SGLang development team commercialised its work as "Radix Ark" and raised seed funding at a $400 million valuation.
Chi-gyu Hwang
delight@d-today.co.kr