Scale AI Inc. has announced that it has closed a $1 billion financing transaction at a $13.8 billion valuation.
The financing was led by existing investor Accel with nearly all of Scale's other existing investors, including Y Combinator, Nat Friedman, Index Ventures, Founders Fund, Coatue, Thrive Capital, Spark Capital, NVIDIA Corp
Also, the company saw a slew of new investors, including Cisco Systems, Inc.
The doubling of valuation marks one of the largest financing deals of the year, highlighting the startup's growing influence in the artificial intelligence sector, reported Bloomberg.
Founded in 2016, Scale AI has positioned itself as a frontrunner in the AI industry, years before OpenAI's ChatGPT gained mainstream popularity.
The company utilizes a vast network of contract workers to clean and label data necessary for developing AI products. Additionally, it employs reinforcement learning from human feedback to enhance AI performance.
Scale AI supplies data to power nearly every leading AI model, serving organizations like OpenAI, Microsoft Corp.
The startup also holds contracts with the U.S. government and partners with the Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to create an evaluation framework for AI models used by the military, per the report.
"Our calling is to build the data foundry for AI, and with today's funding, we're moving into the next phase of that journey - accelerating the abundance of frontier data that will pave our road to AGI," as per the company's statement.
Unlike many AI startups that quickly sought funding after ChatGPT's release, Scale AI has steadily built a robust client base, the report added.
Previously valued at $7.3 billion in 2021, the Palo Alto-based company's methodical approach is now paying off with its current valuation surge.
