Poolside AI
Category: Foundation Models / LLMs
Poolside builds open-weight foundation models (Laguna) and agent systems for enterprise/defense software engineering; co-founded by former GitHub CTO Jason Warner and Eiso Kant Poolside AI was founded in 2023. The company is led by Jason Warner. Based in San Francisco, California, United States (with offices in Paris, France). Total funding raised: $1.626B equity raised (Seed $26M + Series A $100M + Series B $500M + Nvidia Strategic Investment $1B Aug 2026 at $12B pre-money / ~$13B post); prior $2B Series C attempt failed spring 2026. Separately Nvidia paid $6B non-exclusive Model Factory license (Aug 2026), not equity.. Latest round: Series B, $500.0M, 2024-10, led by Bain Capital Ventures. Key investors include Nvidia, Bain Capital Ventures, DST Global, StepStone Group, Citi Ventures, HSBC Ventures, CoreWeave.
- Founded
- 2023
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, United States (with offices in Paris, France)
- Total funding
- $1.626B equity raised (Seed $26M + Series A $100M + Series B $500M + Nvidia Strategic Investment $1B Aug 2026 at $12B pre-money / ~$13B post); prior $2B Series C attempt failed spring 2026. Separately Nvidia paid $6B non-exclusive Model Factory license (Aug 2026), not equity.
Value proposition
Offers a customizable AI model that adapts to a company’s specific coding practices and libraries while ensuring data privacy by operating on-premises
Products and solutions
Poolside Foundation Models (Laguna M.1, Laguna XS.2); Poolside AI Assistant; pool (terminal-based coding agent); Shimmer (browser-based development environment); Multi-Agent Orchestration system
Unique value
Customized foundation model built specifically for software code, tailored to company-specific coding practices
Target customer
Large enterprises, particularly in highly regulated industries such as finance, defense, and retail
Industries served
Finance, Defense, Retail, Other enterprise sectors
Technology advantage
Ability to run AI models on-premises without requiring data to leave the customer’s environment, enhancing privacy and regulatory compliance
How they differentiate
Focus on high customization and data privacy by allowing companies to adapt the AI to their specific coding practices without exposing their data
Main competitors
GitHub Copilot
Key partnerships
AWS (strategic partnership for Amazon Bedrock and EC2, announced Dec 2024); Atos (sovereign AI solutions for Europe, 2026); CoreWeave (2GW AI campus in Texas, Oct 2025)
Notable customers
RTX Corporation and other companies in the American defense industrial base; Israeli defense companies (in discussions)
Major milestones
Series B $500M at $3B valuation (Oct 2024), AWS Bedrock/EC2 partnership (Dec 2024), CoreWeave Project Horizon announced Oct 2025 then mutually terminated Apr 2026, $2B Series C attempt failed spring 2026 (lost 40k GB300 cluster), Laguna M.1 & XS.2 launched Apr 2026, Laguna XS 2.1 Jun 2026, Laguna S 2.1 open-weight Jul 2026, Nvidia $6B Model Factory license + $1B equity at $12B pre-money + ~109 job offers (Aug 2026, explicitly not an acquisition—founders remain, company independent)
Growth metrics
Detailed growth metrics not publicly disclosed
Market positioning
Positioned as a solution for large enterprises in regulated industries
Geographic focus
Europe and North America
Patents and IP
None publicly reported
About Jason Warner
Jason Warner is a seasoned technology executive with extensive experience leading engineering and product teams at major software companies. Before co-founding Poolside AI, he was the Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures. His most notable prior role was as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of GitHub, where he played a crucial part in the development and launch of products like GitHub Actions, Packages, and Codespaces. His career also includes senior engineering leadership positions at Heroku and Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu), giving him a deep background in software development, open-source technologies, and large-scale platform engineering.
Latest news about Poolside AI
- Poolside: Nvidia's $6B Deal Includes 109-Engineer Hire and $1B Stake for Nemotron 4
- Poolside's Reported Nvidia Deal Grows to $7 Billion in Licensing and Investment
- Poolside Reportedly Reaches $6B Nvidia Licensing-and-Hiring Agreement
- Poolside releases free open model Laguna XS.2 for local agentic coding
More Foundation Models / LLMs companies
Official website: https://poolside.ai/
