AI TRENDS | Gimlet Labs Raises $300 Million at $3 Billion Valuation

Gimlet Labs announced last weekend that it raised $300 million at a post-money valuation of about $3 billion, with Andreessen Horowitz leading the round. According to Sina Finance, citing Bloomberg, the company’s disclosed valuation was 16 times higher than the previous round recorded by PitchBook. People familiar with the matter said the three-year-old startup helps AI developers run large models across multiple AI chips at the same time. During the fundraising process, company executives told some potential investors that, based on signed contracts, OpenAI could spend more than $100 million a year on its services. An OpenAI spokesperson said the two companies had discussed a possible partnership, but OpenAI is not yet a paying customer. OpenAI currently mainly uses Nvidia chips, but it is under pressure to adopt at least some GPU options outside Nvidia, which could increase demand for services like Gimlet’s. According to a16z, Gimlet is also working with an unnamed hyperscale cloud provider. The round also included Arm and M12, Microsoft’s venture arm, though it was not clear which valuation tier either investor used. Gimlet CEO Zain Asgar and a16z declined to explain the financing structure.