Foundry Secures $80 Million to Revolutionize AI Computing Accessibility
In a groundbreaking move set to transform the landscape of artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads, Foundry has successfully raised an impressive $80 million during its seed and Series A funding rounds. Spearheading this substantial financial injection are Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, alongside significant contributions from Redpoint, Microsoft Ventures (M12), Conviction, NEA, and a cadre of technical experts. This infusion of capital marks a significant milestone for Foundry, a company poised to redefine the public cloud for AI/ML tasks by orchestrating the world’s computing power to make it universally accessible and beneficial.
Originating from prestigious backgrounds, including alumni from DeepMind’s core Deep Learning Team and Stanford’s Computer Science PhD program under the guidance of Databricks co-founder Matei Zaharia, Foundry is well-equipped to tackle the intricate economic and technical challenges facing AI and deep learning today. Among these challenges are the notorious GPU shortages and the inefficient use of computing capacity, which have hindered many companies’ ability to leverage their computational resources fully.
Foundry’s innovative approach provides a solution through scalable GPU instances that boast unmatched price-performance ratios. The company’s pioneering methods have already attracted a diverse range of early adopters, from large corporate entities such as KKR and LG to prestigious academic institutions like Stanford and MIT, as well as leading AI startups through cluster partnerships with Lightspeed and Pear VC.
With the newly secured funding, Foundry is set to further expand its operations, enhance its product lineup, and forge strategic partnerships. The overarching goal is to create an unparalleled AI/ML infrastructure platform, one that maximizes the utility of computing resources for the betterment of society.
Industry Leaders Share Their Insights
Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, expressed his excitement about Foundry’s potential: “Building AI infrastructure is uniquely relevant right now and highly complex to build, requiring profound technical expertise in areas traditionally seen as separate, such as deep learning, distributed systems, economics of energy, finance, market theory, and mechanism design. What Jared and the team at Foundry are building is at the forefront of innovation in the world of public clouds for AI/ML workloads and will deeply influence the ecosystem for years to come.”
Foundry’s founder and CEO, Jared Quincy Davis, highlighted the critical nature of AI accelerator compute as a resource in today’s civilization, stating, “AI accelerator compute is arguably the most critical resource in civilization today, so the bottlenecks here reverberate broadly. While the much-discussed GPU shortage is part of the challenge we face, it’s not the only issue. Arguably, the industry suffers vastly more from under-utilization than from under-supply. The work we are doing at Foundry is addressing this from multiple angles.”
A testament to Foundry’s impact comes from Alden Woodrow, COO of Arc Institute, a scientific research organization dedicated to the study of complex human diseases. He praised Foundry’s infrastructure, saying, “Arc has very high performance infrastructure needs for computational biology, and Foundry delivers. Foundry manages to combine perfect uptime and compelling economics with exceptionally fast execution, which allows us to accelerate our development of state-of-the-art foundation models.”
As Foundry embarks on this ambitious journey with robust backing and a clear vision, the future of AI computing accessibility looks brighter than ever. The company’s innovative platform is set to catalyze significant advancements in AI and machine learning, providing the essential computational resources needed to drive breakthroughs across various sectors.
