Lightning AI launches a new Platform and Secures $40 Million in Series B funding

Lightning AI, a New York-based provider of an Artificial Intelligence platform that unifies the full AI/ML development and infrastructure lifecycle, has now secured $40 million in a Series B funding round.

Lightning AI is founded by William Falcon. It helps to streamline the lifecycle of machine learning development to expand widespread AI adoption. It aims to enable individual and enterprise users to build deployment-ready AI tools without having to hire experts or sink resources into in-house infrastructure.

Lightning AI allows researchers, data scientists, and software engineers to build, share and iterate on high scalable, production-ready AI applications using the tools and latest technologies of their choice, regardless of their expertise.

William Falcon, Lightning AI co-founder and CEO, said, "Launching this platform is a vital step for our company and the industry. From day one, I wanted to reimagine the experience of building artificial intelligence beyond the current surfeit of tools and systems. Until now, there hasn’t been a way to build production-grade AI apps that takes into account the entire pipeline from development to production. Current options are limiting, highly prescriptive, and lack the flexibility needed to leverage AI in real-world scenarios. Imagine wanting to make a phone call and you’re simply handed the disparate parts that make up a working telephone, hoping that one day you’ll be able to make a phone call. Lightning AI takes the principles that have made PyTorch Lightning one of the fastest-growing open-source projects in history - simplicity, modularity, and sustainability - and applies them to the task of unifying the entire AI development and infrastructure lifecycle."

Dr. Kristof Schum, Global Segment Leader of Machine Learning at Amazon Web Services, said, "We are excited about the development Lightning AI is leading by allowing AI-driven applications relevant to specific verticals come to life in a simple way. The partnership will bring further ease-of-use to customers and fit well with AWS’s industry, use-case and business problem-driven approach"

The round, which brings the total funding secured to date to $58.6 million, was backed by Coatue with participation from First Minute Capital, Index, and the Chainsmokers Mantis VC.

Post funding, Caryn Marooney, the General Partner at Coatue, will now be joining the Board of Directors Team.

The AI startup, as of now, has plans to use the new funds to accelerate technology innovation, fund new AI research and invest in its user community and ecosystem.