AI startup Baseten hits $13 billion valuation as Australia's Blackbird makes record bet

SYDNEY, June 23 : Baseten, a California-based artificial intelligence startup co-founded by Australians, said it raised $1.5 billion in a funding round that valued the company at $13 billion, underscoring the surge of capital flowing into AI firms.

The round was led by U.S.-based investors Sands Capital and Wellington Management, Baseten said late on Monday. Top Australian venture capital firm Blackbird VC said it contributed the firm's biggest-ever investment, without specifying an amount.

Baseten sells software and infrastructure that let companies customise their own AI models, using what it says is a cheaper alternative to providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

The company said its revenue has grown 20-fold over the past year as demand rises for "inference" — the stage where trained AI models generate outputs in real-world applications.

The deal is Baseten's fourth capital raising in 18 months and highlights investor appetite for companies supplying infrastructure to commercialise generative AI.

"It's a signal of conviction," said Blackbird partner Michael Tolo in a phone interview, describing his firm's decision to increase its stake.

He said Blackbird's latest outlay may be the biggest to date by an Australian venture capital firm.

For companies building AI into their tech systems, Baseten competes with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic at a lower price, and "this is the biggest shift that we've seen in both unit economics and competitive leverage within the AI market so far", Tolo said.

Baseten said it would use the funds to expand computing capacity, software and hiring.