Nvidia Acquires Seattle AI Startup OctoAI for Over $250 Million, Ending Its Service Offering by October 31
Nvidia has acquired Seattle-based AI startup OctoAI, which helps run generative AI models efficiently, for a price potentially exceeding $250 million including retention incentives. OctoAI is winding down its services by October 31, marking Nvidia's continued expansion in AI amid rising regulatory scrutiny.
Madrona Summit Panel Highlights Shift from Big Data to Foundation AI Models Enabling Startups
At the Madrona Intelligent Applications Summit, experts highlighted that big data is no longer a priority as AI models now solve complex problems with less data. They emphasized advances in foundation AI models like DALL-E and GPT-3, which enable new startups but face challenges like hallucination and bias.
GeekWire surveys Seattle-area VCs to name Pacific Northwest startups they predict will become unicorns in 2022
GeekWire surveyed more than a dozen Seattle-area venture capitalists for their picks of Pacific Northwest startups likely to reach unicorn status this year, compiling a list of candidate companies with reasons for each selection. The piece notes rising valuations nationwide and excludes VCs' own portfolio companies to reduce bias.
OctoML Raises $85M Series C Led by Tiger Global to Expand ML Partnerships and Engineering Team
OctoML, a University of Washington spinout specializing in machine learning optimization, raised $85 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its total to $132 million. The company plans to expand its partnerships with hardware and cloud vendors while nearly tripling its engineering team.
Madrona Venture Group’s Steve Singh Details Six Post-COVID Tech Trends and Reasons for Hope on GeekWire Podcast
Steve Singh, managing director of Madrona Venture Group and former CEO of Docker and Concur, joined GeekWire to discuss reasons for hope and six technology trends to watch as the Pacific Northwest emerges from the pandemic, in a special episode tied to the 2021 virtual GeekWire Awards.
GeekWire names winners at 2021 Awards; SeekOut wins Startup of the Year after $65M raise
The 2021 GeekWire Awards returned as a virtual event honoring over 60 finalists across 14 categories from the Pacific Northwest tech community, featuring celebrity cameos and performances. Winners included SeekOut as Startup of the Year, and among 16 winners eight were women and five were people of color and/or immigrant entrepreneurs.
GeekWire opens voting for 2021 Startup CEO of the Year with five finalists including OctoML, Syndio and WhyLabs
GeekWire is running community voting for its 13th annual GeekWire Awards, featuring five finalists for Startup CEO of the Year: Luis Ceze (OctoML), Maria Colacurcio (Syndio), Mike McSherry (Xealth), Ray Meiring (Qorus Software) and Alessya Visnjic (WhyLabs); voting closes April 30 and winners are announced May 20 at a virtual event.
OctoML raises $28M Series B to speed ML deployment across phones, cars and cloud; backed by Apache TVM creators
Seattle startup OctoML, a University of Washington spinout led by CEO Luis Ceze, raised $28 million in Series B funding to help companies deploy and optimize machine-learning models across diverse hardware. The team — creators of Apache TVM — counts partners like Qualcomm, Microsoft and AMD, has ~1,000 early Octomizer sign-ups, 45 employees and plans >50% headcount growth this year.
OctoML raises $15M from Amplify and Madrona to scale TVM-based ML deployment tools
Seattle startup OctoML, spun out of the University of Washington and led by Apache TVM creators, raised $15 million from investors including Amplify and Madrona to expand its ML deployment software. The company, which launched a TVM-based SaaS called Octomizer, will use the funding to grow hiring and scale its optimizer for edge and cloud model deployment.
Organizations
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OctoML Co-founder, Executive Officer, Director 2019 · current
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OctoAI CEO · current
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University of Washington Professor · current
