Baseten hits $13B valuation with $1.5B raise for cheaper AI inference

Baseten, a California-based AI infrastructure startup co-founded by Australians, announced a $1.5 billion funding round that values the company at $13 billion. The round was led by U.S. investors Sands Capital and Wellington Management, with Australian VC firm Blackbird making its largest-ever investment (amount undisclosed). The company sells software and infrastructure that enables businesses to customize and run their own AI models, positioning itself as a cheaper alternative to providers like OpenAI and Anthropic, particularly for 'inference' — the stage where trained AI models generate outputs in real-world applications. Baseten's revenue has grown 20-fold over the past year, reflecting surging demand for cost-efficient AI deployment.

Baseten plans to use the new capital to expand computing capacity, enhance its software platform, and accelerate hiring. The deal marks Baseten's fourth capital raise in 18 months, underlining strong investor appetite for companies that supply the underlying infrastructure for commercializing generative AI. Blackbird partner Michael Tolo called it 'a signal of conviction,' noting that Baseten offers better unit economics and competitive leverage in the AI market. For professionals building AI into their systems, Baseten provides a scalable, lower-cost path to deploy custom models without relying on premium API providers.