Hugging Face raised $235 million in funding from Big Tech

The AI model repository Hugging Face has caught the eyes of Big Tech companies. The startup could raise $235 million in a Series D fundraising round and enhance its valuation to $4.5 billion.

AI startups are probably the next big thing in the tech industry as they raise hundreds of millions of dollars in funds from bigger companies. The most famous AI startup and the mastermind behind ChatGPT, OpenAI, is now worth around $30 billion. More AI startups are coming to life, and bigger tech companies are eager to find the next OpenAI.

Hugging Face is an AI model repository that is now at the center of attention. The startup is somehow the GitHub of machine learning, AI models, codes, and datasets. It raised $235 million in a Series D fundraising round from Amazon, Google, Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. IBM, and Salesforce. Hugging Face was founded in 2016 and is now valued at $4.5 billion.

Hugging Face accepts funds from Google, Amazon, etc

The investors in this AI model repository are among the most successful tech companies with a laser focus on generative AI for their future products. For instance, the Nvidia CEO believes AI-powered chips can reinvent computers.

Google and Amazon are at the forefront of integrating AI into their services. Amazon is also the preferred Could services provider for Hugging Face. More major companies might be interested in investing in this startup in the following fundraising rounds.

Clement Delangue, Hugging Face CEO, said the funding will be used “to grow the team currently at 170 and invest in more open source AI and platform building.” Delangue added that the massive investment in his startup shows the importance of the open-source community in building up the generative AI community.

“It’s a validation both for Hugging Face, but also for the broader open-source AI ecosystem,” Delangue added. “Companies want to build AI themselves and need open-source AI for this.”

AI companies are now more inclined to release their AI models to the public. This way, they can allow creative developers to work on the models and make them better, as well as identify the flaws.