Fireworks AI raised $52 million to expand its artificial intelligence product.
The investment values the 2-year-old firm at $552 million, according to a Monday (July 8) company blog post. The company helps businesses access multiple AI models.
“Unlike proprietary mega models that are generic, non-private, and hard to customize, Fireworks AI provides smaller, production-grade models that can be deployed privately and securely,” CEO Lin Qiao wrote in the post. “Using minimal human-curated data, our ultra-fast LoRA fine-tuning allows developers to quickly customize models to their specific needs, transitioning from dataset preparation to querying a fine-tuned model in minutes. These fine-tuned models are seamlessly deployed, maintaining the same performance and cost benefits as our base models.”
Developers at AI startups such as Cresta, Cursor and Liner have used Fireworks’ AI models, as have tech companies including DoorDash, Quora and Upwork, the post said.
In an interview with Bloomberg Thursday (July 11), Qiao said the industry is heading to a place where using a mix of AI systems becomes the norm.
“A single model is not enough to solve business problems,” she said, per the report, noting that Fireworks focuses on smaller and open-source models designed to handle specific business needs and are simpler to use and customize.
“We want to use the funding to make a big shift toward a compound AI system that can orchestrate across multiple single models,” she added. The AI tools could then access, for example, “my personal calendars or personal to-do list, and view the totality of the great application experience.”
Fireworks’ funding round — which included participation by Nvidia — is happening as tech firms continue to invest in the AI sector and in the technology itself.
For example, PYMNTS wrote Thursday that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, saw a 32% year-over-year increase in revenue, highlighting the growing demand for AI chips.
“As AI continues to reshape the tech landscape, TSMC’s ability to meet the demanding requirements of AI chip design will be crucial,” the report said. “The coming quarters will be telling as the industry watches to see if TSMC can maintain this growth trajectory and how it balances the needs of its diverse customer base.”
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