YC, Nexus Venture Partners back Giga ML’s $3.6m raise

Giga ML founders Varun Vummadi (left) and Esha Manideep / Photo credit: Giga ML

A large percentage of companies believe that incorporating AI into their business – either for internal use or for their end users – can prove beneficial. However, deployments of large language models (LLMs) can come with data security and compliance issues.

Looking to address this issue, India-based Giga ML provides a platform for enterprises to deploy customizable LLMs securely on their own servers. This removes the need to move sensitive data to external servers like those of OpenAI.

To help its platform reach more companies, Giga ML raised US$3.6 million in seed funding from various investors, including Y Combinator and lead investor Nexus Venture Partners.

Funding details

• Funding amount: US$3,600,000
• Lead investor: Nexus Venture Partners
• Other investors: Y Combinator, Liquid 2 Ventures (L2V), 8vdX, Garry Tan
• Stage: Seed
• Source

The startup allows enterprises to use open-source LLMs that Giga ML can pre-train and fine-tune to suit clients’ specific needs. The company said these LLMs can be as powerful as OpenAI’s GPT-4.

“Open-source LLM models are a keystone to the future of AI we want to live in, free of lock-in to big tech or those beholden to big tech,” said Y Combinator CEO and president Garry Tan, who also participated in the round.

Giga ML was founded three months ago by Varun Vummadi and Esha Manideep. Since its launch, the company said it has received interest from a diverse range of enterprises, especially in healthcare, legal, and finance sectors.

See also: Mapping AI startups pushing SEA into the spotlight

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