Nvidia joins $14M funding round for India’s Simplismart

In short: Nvidia has invested in Simplismart, an Indian startup that says it can help companies run AI models with fewer graphics chips.

What happened

Simplismart, a Bengaluru-based startup founded in 2022, raised $14 million in a Series B funding round. Nvidia joined the round, along with Accel, Shastra VC, and Micromax. Dallas Venture Capital led the investment, and TechCrunch reported the deal values Simplismart at about $100 million, including the new funding.

Simplismart sells software that helps businesses run AI models more efficiently. A GPU, short for graphics processing unit, is a specialized computer chip often used for AI work. You can think of GPUs as the “engines” that power many AI services, and they can be expensive and hard to get in large quantities.

The company says its software sits between the AI model and the computers it runs on, and it automatically adjusts settings to match a customer’s needs. That can include how fast the model responds and how much computing power it uses. Simplismart says it helped the AI video tool InVideo cut its GPU serving costs by 56%.

Simplismart also said its annualized revenue run rate grew 14-fold in the past six months, and that more than half of its revenue now comes from the US.

Why it matters

AI features are spreading across many apps, but they often cost a lot to run because they need many GPUs. Tools that squeeze more work out of existing hardware are like better fuel efficiency in a car. They can help companies offer AI services at lower cost, and reduce the pressure to keep buying more chips.

Source: TechCrunch AI