AI Storage Platform Eyes $25B Valuation in New Funding Round

Vast Data Pursues Significant Valuation Increase

Vast Data, a provider of a data storage platform optimized for artificial intelligence, is currently seeking funding in a new investment round.

The company is aiming for a substantial increase in valuation. Sources indicate a target valuation around $25 billion.

Valuation Jump and Market Interest

This potential valuation represents a considerable rise from the $9 billion achieved during its Series E funding round in December 2023.

While the deal remains unfinalized and terms are subject to change, the requested valuation was considered ambitious given market conditions, despite the company’s strong growth trajectory.

Multiple venture capital firms are closely monitoring Vast Data’s progress and expressing interest in potential investment.

Vast Data’s Technology and Approach

Vast Data distinguishes itself by offering integrated data management software alongside unified CPU, GPU, and data hardware sourced from vendors like Supermicro, HPE, and Cisco.

Unlike traditional data storage systems that utilize tiered storage levels, Vast aims to provide a unified platform, particularly focused on flash storage.

This approach eliminates the complexities and inefficiencies associated with managing data across different tiers.

The Impact of AI

The surge in demand for AI solutions has significantly benefited Vast Data’s business.

Its platform efficiently stores structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data in a single location.

This centralized approach accelerates data access and reduces the expenses related to model training and inference processes.

Key Clients and Growth Metrics

Vast Data’s customer base includes prominent organizations such as Pixar, ServiceNow, and xAI.

Furthermore, next-generation AI cloud providers like CoreWeave and Lambda leverage Vast’s technology to deliver storage capabilities to their users.

The company reported $200 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) at the time of its Series E funding approximately 18 months ago.

Vast Data has experienced year-over-year growth rates ranging from 2.5x to 3x, as stated by CEO and co-founder Renen Hallak.

Notably, the company has maintained positive free cash flow for the past four years.

Competitive Landscape

Vast Data operates in a competitive market alongside established players.

These include Pure Storage, a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of nearly $17 billion, and Weka, which recently secured $140 million in funding at a $1.6 billion valuation.

Vast is also actively developing a database architecture designed to compete with offerings from Databricks.