On May 22nd, artificial intelligence startup Scale AI announced on Tuesday that it has raised $1 billion in its Series F funding round, bringing the company's valuation to $13.8 billion, nearly double its previously disclosed valuation. The San Francisco-based company has now raised a total of $1.6 billion in funding.
The funding round was led by Accel, with new investors including Cisco Investments, DFJ Growth, Intel Capital, ServiceNow Ventures, AMD Ventures, WCM, Amazon, serial entrepreneur Elad Gil, and Meta.
Existing investors such as Y Combinator, Nat Friedman, Index Ventures, Founders Fund, Coatue, Thrive Capital, Spark Capital, NVIDIA, Tiger Global Management, Greenoaks, and Wellington Management also participated in this funding round.
Scale AI plays a crucial role in the development of generative AI and large language models, handling data that includes text, images, videos, and audio recordings, which need to be accurately annotated before AI technologies can effectively utilize them. Scale AI has evolved from annotating training data for autonomous driving models to optimizing and refining foundational data for various organizations, supporting some of the most advanced models.
Founder and CEO Alexander Wang stated in a release, "Our mission is to build a data factory for artificial intelligence. Today's funding will accelerate our journey towards general artificial intelligence and enrich cutting-edge data."
Furthermore, Scale AI's collaboration with the U.S. public sector is increasing. In August last year, the company signed a contract with the Department of Defense's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to help enhance AI capabilities across the entire military, including the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard.
In May of this year, Scale AI launched the AI-based decision platform Donovan, the first large language model deployed on a classified U.S. government network.
At the Washington AI Insights Forum in December last year, Wang discussed Scale AI's role in supporting the U.S. and its allies, emphasizing, "The race for global AI leadership is underway, and the U.S.'s AI adoption and implementation efficiency will define the future of warfare."
Scale AI also aims to engage in AI development globally. In May of this year, the company announced plans to establish its European headquarters in London and seek to support and collaborate with the UK government's AI initiatives.
