Israeli AI data platform company Wicca The company announced the completion of its oversubscribed $140 million Series E financing round, valuing the company at $1.6 billion. The company has become a unicorn, doubling its $750 million valuation when it raised $135 million in November 2022. This latest funding round brings it to $400 million, the total amount Weka has raised since its founding.
An estimated 200 of the company's 400 employees will benefit from a $40 million secondary component of the financing round, with the company's founding CEOs Liran Zvibel, Omri Palmon, and Maor Ben Dayan deciding to reduce their participation in the round to a minimum so that veteran employees can Get a bonus for their shares. 125 of the company's 400 employees work at Weka's development center in Tel Aviv, and the company plans to hire dozens of additional employees with the new funds.
The funding round was led by Valor Equity Partners with participation from Nvidia, Atreides Management, Generation Investment Management, Qualcomm Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, as well as Israeli investors including Key 1 Capital growth fund Ibex Investors and MoreTech Ventures.
Wika and its Israeli competitor Big data It has grown at a very rapid pace by providing infrastructure to large enterprises and AI consumers and helping them manage their data storage in an optimal manner across their public and private clouds, while managing the connectivity between clouds in the fastest way possible.
The rise of AI has underscored the need for more effective and faster data management for critical processes such as training or running models, and Israeli companies have recognized the opportunity, expanded their product offerings accordingly, and deepened their cooperation with AI-related companies. Like Nvidia.
Last November, VAST Data raised $118 million at a company valuation of $9 billion, making it one of the largest privately owned technology companies in Israel. Although she's a bit late, Weka has now joined the unicorn club. Weka's annual recurring revenue (ARR) — a number that reflects what revenue would look like at the end of the year if the company maintains its current rate — is estimated to be about $100 million, about 50% of VAST Data's estimated revenue of $200 million.
Zvibel tells Globes that the era of artificial intelligence has only just begun. “The real implementation of AI today is mainly done in startups,” he says, “and now we will see large companies start investing in AI. The crazy investment that you see in startups will trickle down to the rest of the market and when that happens, if that happens, we will start to see significant growth.” “In the market, you can see the significant increase in the market capitalization of AI companies that is strongly driving this trend, and we, too, are benefiting from the growth that exists today from the use of GPUs.”
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on May 15, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
