Modular, a startup creating a platform for developing and optimizing AI systems, has raised $100 million in funding, bringing its total raised to $130 million.
The round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from GV (Google Ventures), SV Angel, Greylock, and Factory.
The proceeds will be put toward product expansion, hardware support, and the expansion of Modular’s programming language, Mojo.
The startup offers an engine designed to enhance the performance of AI models during inference on CPUs, expanding to GPUs later this year. The engine, compatible with popular machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch, can reportedly accelerate model inference by up to 7.5 times compared to native frameworks.
Modular's flagship product, Mojo, is a programming language that combines the usability of Python with features like caching, adaptive compilation techniques, and metaprogramming. Currently available in preview to “hundreds” of early adopters, Modular plans to release Mojo in general availability early next month.
“Our developer platform enables our customers, and the world’s developers, to defragment their AI technology stacks — pushing more innovations into production faster and realizing more value from their investment in AI,” Chris Lattner CEO of Modular, said. “We’re attacking the complexity that slows AI development today by solving the fragmentation issues that plague the AI stack, starting with where AI software meets AI hardware.”
The startup claims that its community has rapidly grown to over 120,000 developers since the product keynote in May.
Company: Modular, Inc.
Raised: $100.0M
Round: Unknown
Funding Month: August 2023
Lead Investors: General Catalyst
Additional Investors: GV (Google Ventures), SV Angel, Greylock and Factory
Company Website: https://www.modular.com/
Software Category: Developer Platform
About the Company: Founded in 2022, by Chris Lattner, an ex-Googler, and Tim Davis, Modular is an AI software developer platform that unifies the development and deployment of AI for everyone. The company believes that AI is a net positive force in the world and will help transform it for the better. Modular’s vision is to allow AI technology to be used by anyone, anywhere.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/24/modular-raises-100m-for-ai-dev-tools/