WebAI Inc., an Austin-based AI development platform, has raised a $43 million series A funding round. The new round came at a $700 million valuation and added to the $17 million it had previously raised.
Among its investors were Forerunner Ventures, Mike Abbott, David Beirne and David Shuman.
Abbott, a computer science professor at Stanford University and a former general partner at Kleiner Perkins, and Beirne, founder of X10 Capital and former general partner at Benchmark Capital, will join WebAI's board, along with Dennis Durkin, former chief financial officer at Activision Blizzard and former chief financial officer and chief operating officer at XBOX.
The startup, which recently crossed 60 employees, was founded in 2019 by Chief Executive David Stout, Ethan Baird and Tyler Mauer. It also has a presence in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The company is currently hiring for at least 10 open positions that could be in Austin or remote. That includes engineering, operations and marketing roles.
"We are well-positioned to provide enterprises with an alternative to centralized AI solutions and enable them to harness the power of private models that are customized for their unique needs," Stout stated.
The startup's platform runs AI models on local devices, as opposed to sending queries out to cloud-based models for processing. That lowers compute cost (as well as energy consumption) and reduces latency, and it also gives operators more control over where their data is going. The platform is available on Apple products including Mac, iPad and iPhone.
For example, the company's Navigator product, which was released last year, provides drag and drop convenience to AI inputs, such as data sets, media, images and the like, as well as model training. From there, users can deploy directly to local devices or networks.
"The way it simplifies the complexity of AI deployment and training is nothing short of revolutionary," Abbott stated. "I believe this technology is going to fundamentally change how companies approach AI, making it more accessible and efficient for everyone."
WebAI's big funding round comes amid a wave of enthusiasm for startups in the AI space.
So far this year, about 35% of U.S. startup investment has gone to AI-related companies, according to Crunchbase. That includes huge funding rounds for companies such as OpenAI, which are developing the underlying large language models and technology, as well as companies with unique use cases for AI in growth areas, such as health care.
For example, earlier this week an Austin startup that has developed AI to optimize trucking operations raised a $16.6 million series B funding round.
