(Reuters) - Data platform company WekaIO notched a valuation of $1.6 billion in a round led by Valor Equity Partners as a funding winter, especially for tech startups focused on artificial intelligence, is easing.
The company said on Wednesday that it had raised $140 million in an oversubscribed Series E funding round, which consisted of a combined primary and secondary transaction.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Technology-focused startups have secured a chunk of the investments following a boom in artificial intelligence-focused products after the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022.
As the stock markets rally and the appetite for IPOs returns, startups are also expected to see a resurgence in interest as private investors seek lucrative exits through these stock sales.
CONTEXT
Campbell, California-based WekaIO is a technology company that offers high-performance and scalable file storage for data-intensive applications. It helps organizations store, process, and manage data virtually anywhere with the cloud.
The latest funding round saw participation from Nvidia, Qualcomm Ventures and others.
KEY QUOTE
"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," said Intekhab Nazeer, chief financial officer at WEKA.