Cloud startup Render has raised US$100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation.
The company is benefitting from the people asking AI models to write software for them, and seeking advice on where to run new programs in a cloud computing world dominated by Amazon, OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet and Nvidia.
Render’s co-founder and CEO, Anurag Goel, told CNBC that the company’s revenue growth is well over 100%, and more than 4.5 million developers use its tools.
Goel also said that the company has benefited from a generational shift in how developers choose cloud developers.
“Hyperscalers are no longer the default for teams that want to move fast. AI-assisted coding means developers can build faster than ever, and they need a cloud that can keep up. That's what Render delivers,” Goel said in a media release.
Render was founded in 2018 and is San Francisco-based with around 100 employees.
Investors include 01A, Addition, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Georgian Partners. With the new capital, Render will hire additional technical staff members to build features.
The cloud startup runs its software on Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform but is testing the use of its own servers.
Expanding the initiative might reduce Render’s costs and yield lower prices.
“We get more control over the kinds of things we can do, but the cost basis is just very different,” said Goel.
However, greater reliance on in-house computing power could lead to new risks as the company would need to ensure it always has enough servers on hand.
If the strategy works out, it could boost efficiency for customers, such as Alibaba, CBS, Hodinkee, Paradigm, Shopify and AI-fueled app builder Base44.
OpenAI, which created ChatGPT and has committed to spending more than $600 billion with Amazon, Cerebras, CoreWeave, Microsoft and Oracle clouds in recent months, also uses Render.
Goel said that it doesn’t hurt that ChatGPT recommends Redner in certain scenarios.
“Chatbots have effectively, almost singlehandedly, grown our business,” he said.
