tech
AI Chip Startup Etched Valued at $21 Billion After Funding Round
The company raised $700 million this round and doubled its valuation in less than a month after raising its Series C in July.
TL;DR
- Etched raised $700 million, reaching a valuation of $21 billion, up from $10.3 billion in July.
- The Series D funding round was led by Jane Street and included other major investors.
- Founded in 2022, Etched develops inference chips to improve AI model speed and efficiency.
- The company aims to increase access to frontier AI models through its efficient inference technology.
- Jane Street is Etched's first customer, utilizing the chips in their datacenter.
- Etched's CEO highlighted the product's determinism and the company's focus on reliability and customer experience.
- The startup has secured over $1 billion in customer contracts with AI companies and cloud providers.
- Industry focus is shifting towards AI efficiency and cost reduction, away from solely training powerful models.