Startup français FlexAI sort de l’ombre avec 30 millions de dollars pour faciliter l’accès au calcul de l’IA

FlexAI, a French startup, has secured a significant seed investment of €28.5 million ($30 million) to revolutionize the compute infrastructure for developers working on AI applications. The company, which has been operating in stealth mode since October 2023, is now officially launching with a promising on-demand cloud service for AI training.

The co-founders of FlexAI, Brijesh Tripathi and Dali Kilani, bring a wealth of experience from top tech companies like Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, and Intel. The seed funding was led by Alpha Intelligence Capital (AIC), Elaia Partners, and Heartcore Capital, with other notable investors joining in.

Tripathi highlighted the complexities developers face in accessing AI compute infrastructure, emphasizing the need for a simpler and more efficient solution. FlexAI aims to provide a cloud service that offers virtual heterogeneous compute, allowing developers to run their workloads across multiple architectures on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The company’s approach to “universal AI compute” means users can focus on building and training models without worrying about the underlying hardware complexities. By leveraging partnerships with industry giants like Intel, AMD, and potentially Nvidia, FlexAI aims to offer a multicloud solution that optimizes performance and cost for developers.

Tripathi’s background in GPU development at Nvidia and his experience at Tesla under Elon Musk have shaped his vision for FlexAI. The company also plans to explore debt financing to build its own infrastructure, following a trend in the industry where GPUs are used as collateral for securing loans.

With the launch of its commercial product on the horizon, FlexAI is poised to disrupt the AI compute landscape and provide developers with a more streamlined and cost-effective solution for their AI projects.