Featherless.ai
Category: AI Infrastructure
A serverless AI inference platform providing instant and affordable access to a vast collection of open-source AI models. Featherless.ai was founded in 2022. The company is led by Eugene Cheah. Based in San Francisco, CA. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $25M. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include ["AMD Ventures","Airbus Ventures","BMW i Ventures","Kickstart Ventures","Panache Ventures","Wavemaker Ventures"].
- Founded
- 2022
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, CA
- Team size
- 11-50
- Total funding
- $25M
Value proposition
Offers cost-effective, scalable AI inference by optimizing GPU utilization and eliminating costly downtime
Products and solutions
Access to over 30,000 open-source AI models, API-based instant deployment of models including language, vision, and audio modalities, flat-rate subscription pricing
Unique value
Serverless architecture that dynamically allocates GPU resources and provides instant access to a diverse library of AI models
Target customer
Businesses and individuals seeking to integrate AI without high infrastructure costs
Industries served
General AI applications, Emerging markets
Technology advantage
Optimized GPU utilization and a flat capacity pricing model that dramatically reduces operational costs
How they differentiate
Focus on serverless AI inference with an extensive open-source model library, cost-effectiveness and scalability
Main competitors
Google Cloud AI Platform, AWS SageMaker, Hugging Face
Key partnerships
AMD (strategic collaboration with AMD ROCm platform), Airbus Ventures, Hugging Face (fastest-growing inference partner)
Major milestones
Secured $5M seed funding Expanded library to over 4,000 open-source AI models
Growth metrics
Rapid adoption with over 200% growth in platform usage year-over-year
Market positioning
Positioned as a democratizer of AI, lowering barriers for both enterprise and emerging market users
Geographic focus
Global, with an emphasis on emerging markets
About Eugene Cheah
Eugene Cheah is the co-founder and CEO of Featherless.ai (formerly Recursal.ai). He has a strong technical background with extensive experience in building and leading software and AI companies. Before Featherless.ai, he co-founded and served as CTO at Uilicious, a UI testing automation company. He is also the creator of GPU.js and a co-lead of the RWKV, an open-source AI model project under the Linux Foundation. His career demonstrates a consistent focus on AI, infrastructure, and developing tools for software engineers.
Official website: https://www.featherless.ai