Trending Vast Data at $200M ARR and $9.1B valuation
Deel reaches $400M ARR and more....
Hey everyone, welcome new friends to Signal, a hand-curated newsletter that covers:
1-2 pieces a week on the momentum of startups.
1 deep-dive story about a business or a tech trend.
Every business is/has/needs a story, share your story or make it a story. Here are today’s Top signals:
The trending startup is at an $200M ARR and $9.1B valuation.
There is one startup joining in the Billion ARR Club.
Three startups growing into the 100M ARR Club.
And one bootstrapping startup just passed $2M ARR.
Trending startups
1. Vast Data at $200M ARR and $9.1B valuation
Vast Data provides a scale-out, unstructured data storage solution that eliminates tiered storage.
The company raised $118 million in a Series E funding round, bringing its total funding to $381 million. Vast Data is valued at $9.1 billion post-money.
Key investors in the funding round include Fidelity Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, BOND Capital, Drive Capital, Nvidia, Dell, Goldman Sachs, Tiger Global, and others.
Why it matters: Vast Data's platform offers a unique approach to data storage by combining storage, database, and compute engine services for AI and GPU-accelerated workloads. Its ability to unify storage and eliminate tiered storage setups sets it apart from competitors. The funding will support the company's expansion, particularly in the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Europe regions.
2. Liquid AI valued at $303M in seed funding
Liquid neural networks are smaller and more flexible than traditional AI models, requiring less computing power to run. They also have the ability to adapt their parameters for success over time and can analyze any phenomena that fluctuate over time.
Liquid AI raised $37.5 million in seed funding, valuing the company at $303 million post-money.
Investors include OSS Capital, PagsGroup, Automattic, Samsung Next, Bold Capital Partners, ISAI Cap Venture, and angel investors like GitHub co-founder Tom Preston Werner, Shopify co-founder Tobias Lütke and Red Hat co-founder Bob Young.
Why it matters: Liquid AI's technology offers more capital-efficient, reliable, explainable, and capable machine learning models for both domain-specific and generative AI applications. The startup plans to commercialize the technology and compete with foundation model companies like OpenAI.
3. AutogenAI
AutogenAI develops automated writing tools using AI to complete paperwork for bidding on public and private projects more quickly and effectively.
AutogenAI has 50 customers who use the software for over 10,000 contract proposals a year, and reached £1 million in annual recurring revenue in April. The company's current valuation is undisclosed.
Salesforce's venture unit invested $39.5 million in AutogenAI, which comes after a $22 million round led by Blossom Capital.
Why it matters: AutogenAI's software can become an integral part of every procurement process and improve a client's odds of winning a bid by 20%.
4. Mistral AI
Mistral AI develops open-source software for chatbots and generative AI tools, positioning itself as more cost-effective and efficient than its US counterparts.
Mistral AI is in the final stages of raising approximately €450 million ($487 million) in funding, with a valuation of around $2 billion.
Key investors in this funding round include a16z, Nvidia and Salesforce.
Why it matters: Mistral AI's open-source software for AI tools and its significant funding and valuation highlight the tech industry's optimism about the potential and profitability of AI companies.
5. Leonardo.Ai
Leonardo.Ai offers an AI-driven art production platform for creative professionals in industries like gaming, advertising, fashion, and architecture, allowing them to save, edit, and reuse assets in a consistent style and build custom image generation models.
Leonardo.Ai recently raised $31 million in funding, has a user base of 7 million, and has produced over 700 million images.
Key investors include Blackbird, Side Stage Ventures, Smash Capital, TIRTA Ventures, Gaorong Capital, and Samsung Next.
Why it matters: Leonardo.Ai stands out with its focus on user control and versatility, allowing users to combine text and sketch prompts to create photorealistic images in real time. The enterprise version offers collaboration tools, private cloud hosting, and API access, enhancing creative capabilities for businesses.
Billion ARR Club
6. Samsara surpasses $1B ARR
Samsara is a leader in the Connected Operations Cloud.
Q3 revenue reached $237.5 million, with a 40% YoY increase. ARR grew to $1.003 billion, a 39% YoY rise.
100M ARR Club
7. Deel reaches $400M ARR
Deel is a human resources startup that helps businesses hire contract and remote workers.
Deel has achieved $400 million in annual recurring revenue, showcasing significant growth from $295 million in January.
8. VAST Data at $200 million ARR
VAST Data's platform unifies storage, database, and containerized compute engine services into a single, scalable software platform for AI and GPU-accelerated tools.
VAST Data's customer roster includes Booking Holdings, Inc., U.S. Air Force, U.S. Department of Energy, Verizon, Boston Children’s Hospital, Pixar, and Zoom, among others.
3.3x YoY growth and a gross margin of nearly 90%.
9. Cribl achieves $100M ARR
Cribl is a data engine company for IT and Security.
Cribl's ARR has grown from $1 million to $100 million in less than 4 years.
Cribl's products offer unique solutions for observability, data search, and security, attracting a growing customer base and strategic partnerships.
Bootstrapping
10. Jenni AI passed $2M ARR
Jenni AI is an AI assistant for all things in your academic journey.
They have been working on the startup for about 5 years, but the majority of revenue came from the last 9 months.