Baseten is raising $1.5B — so why are VCs still discounting its shares?
baseten is reportedly raising $1.5b just months after a $300m round, boosting valuation to $13b. this signals massive investor bets on the inference layer to control ai costs.
less than five months after a $300m series e, ai infrastructure startup baseten is in advanced talks for a $1.5b raise at a $13b valuation. investors including spark capital and wellington management are participating, though the round reportedly employs a split-price mechanism with some entry bids at $11b. the capital injection targets the 'inference layer,' aiming to make running open-source models cheaper and faster than proprietary options. this rapid doubling of valuation underscores a shift in vc spending from training foundation models to optimizing the compute required to run them.