WEKA Reaches Unicorn Status with $140M Series E Funding Round
This round was spearheaded by Valor Equity Partners and saw participation from notable investors including NVIDIA, Generation Investment Management, Atreides Management, and others.
WEKA, the AI-native data platform company, has announced its attainment of unicorn status following an oversubscribed $140 million Series E funding round. This round was spearheaded by Valor Equity Partners and saw participation from notable investors including NVIDIA, Generation Investment Management, Atreides Management, and others. The latest investment propels WEKA's valuation to $1.6 billion.
The funding round, which included both primary and secondary transactions, was led by Valor Equity Partners, a returning investor. As part of the deal, Antonio Gracias, Valor's founder, CEO, and Chief Investment Officer, will join WEKA's board of directors. The fresh capital will bolster WEKA's cash reserves, enabling the company to rapidly scale its operations to meet the soaring global demand for AI-native data infrastructure. Additionally, it will support the development of WEKA’s data platform software and provide liquidity to employees.
WEKA’s data platform is already in use by over 300 of the world's largest AI and GPU deployments, positioning the company to capitalize on the burgeoning need for efficient and sustainable data infrastructure solutions. The influx of funds arrives at a crucial juncture of growth for WEKA, as generative AI and high-performance GPU technologies continue to expand.
Intekhab Nazeer, WEKA’s CFO, highlighted the strategic timing of the funding: "The recent acceleration of generative AI and enterprise cloud adoption has triggered a sharp increase in customer demand, driving an unprecedented number of eight-figure ARR deals—an impressive feat when you factor in that WEKA is a software-based business. It was an opportune time to fortify our cash reserves, allowing our investors to increase their position in the company while minimizing share dilution for our employees."
This funding round stands out as it was exclusively raised from existing investors, a testament to their confidence in WEKA's trajectory. Alongside Valor, Generation Investment Management, NVIDIA, Atreides Management, 10D, Hitachi Ventures, Ibex Investors, Key1 Capital, Lumir Ventures, MoreTech Ventures, and Qualcomm Ventures contributed to the round.
WEKA’s CEO and cofounder, Liran Zvibel, expressed gratitude for the continued support: "The backing of this preeminent group of investors speaks volumes: WEKA is building something truly transformative that modern data-driven organizations need now, more than ever. We are grateful to our returning backers for their support and are honored to welcome Antonio Gracias to our board of directors."
Antonio Gracias shared his enthusiasm for the partnership: "WEKA pioneered the concept of a software, platform-based approach that is revolutionizing modern enterprise data, then forged and hardened its technology in some of the largest, most demanding AI projects on the planet. Valor has a long history in the development of artificial intelligence, beginning with our investment in DeepMind in 2013, and we believe WEKA is positioned to be an integral part of the acceleration of the technology going forward."
Dave Easton from Generation Investment Management and WEKA board member, echoed the sentiment: "The rapid increase in enterprise AI adoption has led to exponential growth in demand for computing resources. This is why the world needs solutions like the WEKA Data Platform, which helps customers achieve radical improvements in the performance, efficiency, and utilization of next-generation GPUs."
Founded in 2013, WEKA has been at the forefront of developing a modern enterprise data stack built for the AI era. Its software-defined architecture delivers exceptional speed, simplicity, and scalability, supporting high-performance computing applications and advanced technologies like generative AI.
