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00:02Fireworks said it surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue
00:07and raised $1.5 billion at a $17.5 billion valuation
00:11as companies seek cheaper alternatives to leading artificial intelligence models.
00:16According to CNBC, NVIDIA-backed Fireworks competes with Amazon and Google
00:20by hosting open-source AI models that developers can integrate into applications.
00:24Revenue increased five-fold from last year.
00:27Fireworks competes with major cloud providers and startups in the AI inference market
00:31while also supplying GPUs for model training.
00:33The company said its services can cost five to ten times less than comparable closed models.
00:39Fireworks has partnered with Microsoft to expand its reach.
00:42It plans to use the funding to acquire more GPUs,
00:45hire technical workers, and build its sales team.
00:48For all things money, visit Benzinga.com.
