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[1]
Black Forest Labs, the company that powers Grok's image generation, is raising another $100M on a $1B valuation, say sources | TechCrunch
While OpenAI pursues yet another monster fundraise, it is not stealing all the oxygen in the room: AI startups building promising foundational models can still open doors, and checkbooks. For example, multiple sources tell us that Black Forest Labs -- a startup building generative AI image models, which only came out of stealth two months ago with $31 million in funding -- is closing new funding. $100 million round at a $1 billion valuation is the amount we are hearing, and that it's already talking to investors for more. The deal may not be final and so could still be subject to change. Black Forest is not just any AI startup: the company was co-founded by the engineers who built the technology behind Stability AI. And it has a big-name customer. Elon Musk's X.ai is using Black Forest's Flux.1 text-to-image model to power image generation in its Grok chatbot. That's a service that set people chattering immediately after it was launched in part because of the audacious results people have managed to generate with it. "No filters" still appears to be a thing a month later. We created the image on the right earlier this week. Another reason why the company is catching the eye of investors is the interest in the founders and founding team. They include Andreas Blattmann, Patrick Esser, Dominik Lorenz and CEO Robin Rombach, the researchers who created Stability AI, considered a game-changing platform for image generation. "Robin Rombach is known to be an absolute expert at image diffusion models and when you have someone that smart and proven in a brand new space, it makes it obvious one should invest if given the chance," one of the company's investors told TechCrunch. It's not completely clear yet who is investing in the Freiburg, Germany-based startup's latest round. One source mentioned Lightspeed -- one of the more prolific investors in AI in Europe, backing Helsing, Mistral, Stability AI and others -- might be involved. Lightspeed has not yet responded to a request for comment, and neither has Black Forest itself. (We will update the post if they do.) The company's previous, $31 million round included a high-wattage list of investors. Led by Andreessen Horowitz, others (per PitchBook data) included General Catalyst and Stuttgart VC Mätch.vc, with Nvidia's Timo Aila, Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe, Apple AI research scientist Vladlen Koltun, entertainment mogul Michael Ovitz, and Y Combinator's Garry Tan also in the mix. The $1 billion valuation is a big jump on its post-money valuation from that last round, which was a more modest $150 million. (Asked about more funding, Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment for this story.) Rapid fundraising in the area of generative AI has become quite commonplace in the current market: startups building these tools need the funding to buy compute, to hire talent, perhaps to settle IP licensing agreements, and marketing and business development to compete against bigger and even more well-funded players. In the case of Black Forest Labs, there are more technology launches coming up soon: the company has already said it's working on a state-of-the-art text-to-video tool, debut date as-yet unannounced. But the market has been tricky, and sometimes unkind, to some of the smaller AI players that have raised a lot and now have some public (and maybe private) pressure to deliver. H in Paris, a generative AI startup started by DeepMind alums, raised $220 million in May of this year. It has already lost three of its five co-founders, allegedly over operational differences. Aleph Alpha, which has raised more than $500 million, appears to have pivoted to enterprise services over building foundational models. "Getting into a headline position, being put into the spotlight, but not delivering," was how another investor who talked to TechCrunch described the predicament that companies like Aleph Alpha and H have faced. Black Forest Labs will, naturally, try to avoid such issues, especially since -- at least for the moment -- it lacks a strategic investor that might prop it up with giant amounts of cash to grow more aggressively, this investor said. "I think they will try to go down the other road, the one of staying as secretive as possible."
[2]
Exclusive: Black Forest Labs, the company that powers Grok's image generation, is raising another $100M on a $1B valuation, say sources
While OpenAI pursues yet another monster fundraise, it is not stealing all the oxygen in the room: AI startups building promising foundational models can still open doors, and checkbooks. Multiple sources tell us that Black Forest Labs -- a startup that's building generative AI image models and came out of stealth two months ago with $31 million in funding -- is closing new funding. A $100 million round at a $1 billion valuation is the amount we are hearing. The deal may not be final and so could still be subject to change. Black Forest is not just any AI startup: The company was co-founded by the engineers who built the technology behind Stability AI. And it has a big-name customer. Elon Musk's X.ai is using Black Forest's Flux.1 text-to-image model to power image generation in its Grok chatbot. That's a service that set people chattering immediately after it was launched in part because of the audacious results people generated with it. "No filters" still appears to be a thing a month later. We created the image on the right earlier this week. The company is also catching the eye of investors because of its founders and founding team. They include Andreas Blattmann, Patrick Esser, Dominik Lorenz and CEO Robin Rombach, researchers who created Stability AI, considered a game-changing platform for image generation. "Robin Rombach is known to be an absolute expert at image diffusion models and when you have someone that smart and proven in a brand new space, it makes it obvious one should invest if given the chance," one of the company's investors told TechCrunch. It's not completely clear yet who is investing in the Freiburg, Germany-based startup's latest round. One source mentioned that Lightspeed -- one of the more prolific investors in AI in Europe, backing Helsing, Mistral, Stability AI and others -- might be involved. Lightspeed has not yet responded to a request for comment, and neither has Black Forest itself. (We will update the post if they do.) The company's previous, $31 million round included a high-wattage list of investors. Led by Andreessen Horowitz, others, per PitchBook data, included General Catalyst and Stuttgart VC Mätch.vc, with Nvidia's Timo Aila, Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe, Apple AI research scientist Vladlen Koltun, entertainment mogul Michael Ovitz, and Y Combinator's Garry Tan also in the mix. The $1 billion valuation is a big jump on its post-money valuation from that last round, which was a more modest $150 million. (Asked about more funding, Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment for this story.) Rapid fundraising in the area of generative AI has become quite commonplace in the current market: Startups building these tools need the funding to buy compute, to hire talent, perhaps to settle IP licensing agreements, and for marketing and business development to compete against bigger and even more well-funded players. In the case of Black Forest Labs, there are more technology launches coming up soon. The company has already said it's working on a state-of-the-art text-to-video tool, with an as-yet-unannounced debut date. But the market has been tricky and sometimes unkind to some of the smaller AI players that have raised a lot and now have pressure to deliver. H in Paris, a generative AI startup started by DeepMind alums, raised $220 million in May of this year. It has already lost three of its five co-founders, allegedly over operational differences. Aleph Alpha, which has raised more than $500 million, appears to have pivoted to enterprise services over building foundational models. "Getting into a headline position, being put into the spotlight, but not delivering," was how another investor who talked to TechCrunch described the predicament that companies like Aleph Alpha and H have faced. Black Forest Labs will naturally try to avoid such issues, especially since -- at least for the moment -- it lacks a strategic investor that might prop it up with giant amounts of cash to grow more aggressively. Said this same investor: "I think they will try to go down the other road, the one of staying as secretive as possible."
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Black Forest Labs, the company behind Grok's image generation capabilities, is reportedly raising $100 million in a new funding round. This investment would value the AI startup at $1 billion, marking a significant milestone in the rapidly evolving AI industry.
Black Forest Labs, the company responsible for powering Grok's impressive image generation capabilities, is reportedly on the verge of securing a substantial funding round. According to sources familiar with the matter, the AI startup is in talks to raise $100 million, which would value the company at an impressive $1 billion 1.
The reported $100 million funding round comes at a time when the AI industry is experiencing rapid growth and attracting significant investor interest. This latest investment would mark a major milestone for Black Forest Labs, propelling it into the coveted "unicorn" status – a term used for privately held startups valued at $1 billion or more 2.
Black Forest Labs has gained prominence in the AI community for its role in developing the image generation technology used by Grok, a popular AI platform. Grok's ability to create high-quality, diverse images based on text prompts has been widely praised, positioning it as a strong competitor in the generative AI space 1.
The potential $1 billion valuation of Black Forest Labs underscores the growing importance of AI image generation technology in various sectors. From creative industries to e-commerce and beyond, the ability to generate high-quality images on demand has numerous applications, driving investor interest in companies at the forefront of this technology 2.
With this significant funding round on the horizon, Black Forest Labs is well-positioned to further enhance its technology and expand its market presence. The investment could fuel research and development efforts, potentially leading to even more advanced image generation capabilities for Grok and other potential clients or applications 1.
As Black Forest Labs continues to grow, it enters a competitive landscape populated by other AI companies focusing on image generation. This funding round and the resulting valuation may help the company attract top talent and secure partnerships, further solidifying its position in the market 2.
The reported $100 million investment at a $1 billion valuation reflects strong investor confidence in Black Forest Labs and the future of AI image generation technology. This level of funding suggests that investors see significant growth potential in the company and its technology, despite the broader economic uncertainties facing the tech industry 1.
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