NVIDIA-backed Fireworks raises $1.5 billion at a $17.5 billion valuation

Fireworks, an AI cloud startup backed by NVIDIA, has raised $1.5 billion at a $17.5 billion valuation, according to CNBC. The round was led by Atreides Management, Index Ventures and TCV, with participation from NVIDIA, Evantic and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others. Fireworks focuses on hosting and running open-source AI models for developers. The company said its annualized revenue has climbed past $1 billion, reaching five times the level recorded a year earlier. Fireworks also said it is now processing 40 trillion AI tokens per day. In addition to inference-related services, the startup has started offering GPUs for training AI models. The financing adds to investor backing for infrastructure providers serving the fast-growing AI model ecosystem, especially companies building tools and cloud capacity for developers working with open-source systems.