Flapping Airplanes Raises $1 Billion At $6 Billion Valuation
Flapping Airplanes, a year-old AI lab, has raised $1 billion in Series A funding, quadrupling its valuation to $6 billion. This significant investment will help the company achieve its goal of training large models with less data.
Original reporting · techcrunch.com
Original: “Year-old AI lab Flapping Airplanes raises $1B at a $6B valuation”
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Key points from TechCrunch’s report
- Flapping Airplanes has raised $1 billion in Series A funding, valuing the company at $6 billion.
- The company's mission is to find ways to train large models with less data.
- The founding team has an impressive background, with experience in AI, statistics, and computer science.
- The company's technology, a megakernel framework, can perform multiple tasks simultaneously.
- The goal of Flapping Airplanes is to create systems that cost less to train and run.
Flapping Airplanes, a startup founded by Aidan Smith and brothers Asher and Ben Spector, has announced a $1 billion Series A round, co-led by Index and Lux, according to TechCrunch. This investment values the company at $6 billion, a significant increase from its previous valuation of $1.5 billion. The company's mission to find ways to train large models with less data has garnered attention in Silicon Valley.
The founding team's impressive background is a key factor in the company's success. Aidan Smith is a former founder and Thiel fellow who worked at Neuralink during college, while Asher Spector was a statistics PhD at Stanford, and Ben Spector was a computer science PhD student at Stanford and founded Prod, a student-run startup accelerator, at MIT.
Flapping Airplanes was launched just nine months ago with a $180 million seed round from GV, Sequoia, and Index. The new round includes earlier backers Sequoia, GV, and Kleiner Perkins, as well as new investors Valor, Atreides, A*, and Nvidia. This significant investment will help the company hire and develop its technology.
The company's technology, described as the 'world's most complete megakernel framework,' can perform entire training runs, serve inference, play video games, and even do all three simultaneously in a single kernel. This framework can overlap memory-bound inference with compute-bound training, allowing the chip to rarely sit idle.
The goal of Flapping Airplanes is to create systems that cost less to train and run. As Asher Spector stated, 'a model that's a million times more data efficient is probably a million times easier to put into the economy.' With this new investment, the company has a fresh $1 billion to hire and attempt to turn this goal into reality.
Flapping Airplanes' success is also attributed to its connection to Prod, a student-run startup accelerator founded by Ben Spector. Prod has become one of the most powerful talent incubators in Silicon Valley, according to Sequoia partner David Cahn. The founders of Flapping Airplanes are building the 'young person's AGI lab,' as Cahn described it.
The company's future plans involve using the new investment to develop its technology and achieve its goal of training large models with less data. With its impressive founding team, significant investment, and innovative technology, Flapping Airplanes is poised to make a significant impact in the AI industry.
Questions and answers
What is Flapping Airplanes' mission?
Flapping Airplanes' mission is to find ways to train large models with less data.
Who are the founders of Flapping Airplanes?
The founders of Flapping Airplanes are Aidan Smith and brothers Asher and Ben Spector.
What is the significance of Flapping Airplanes' megakernel framework?
The megakernel framework can overlap memory-bound inference with compute-bound training, allowing the chip to rarely sit idle.
