Poolside, an AI software development startup, is reportedly nearing a $3 billion valuation after securing nearly $500 million in funding. Founded in 2023, the Paris-based company has yet to release its first product but is focused on developing advanced AI tools for software coding.
Poolside AI startup secures $500M, nears $3B valuation before first product release
According to Fortune , Poolside, a software development startup that uses artificial intelligence, is currently in talks to secure an additional round of funding that would take its valuation to $3 billion before the launch of its first product.
The organization is expected to secure nearly $500 million in additional funding, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information. Bain Capital Ventures, an existing investor in Poolside, is in talks to lead the investment round.
The startup should not have asked for comment. Bain declined to comment.
While the public markets have cooled somewhat on the direct commercial benefits of the technology, the substantial investment in the embryonic company shows that investors are still interested in AI startups.
Jason Warner, the former chief technology officer of the GitHub coding repository, and Eiso Kant, a software entrepreneur, founded Poolside in Paris in early 2023. The company relocated to France last year after raising a $126 million seed funding round, according to reports. Mistral AI and H, two other Paris-based companies, have secured substantial venture capital to develop generative AI models.
Warner and Kant have released minimal information about their company or product. The company’s website outlines a strategy to develop the “most capable AI” for software coding and a vision to expand those capabilities into “other fields.”
Poolside focuses on developer tools as competition in AI code generation market increases
A person familiar with the situation said the startup is focused on attracting developers and has presented a demo code generation product to investors. The person said Poolside’s methodology differs from Mistral’s, which focuses primarily on enterprise clients while offering a code generation model.
The market for tools that facilitate and automate computer coding is saturated. Microsoft Corp. has launched its Copilot coding assistant, developed by GitHub, a company Microsoft acquired in 2018. Numerous venture-backed companies, such as Mistral and Cognition AI, have developed similar features and have signed multiple agreements with Iris Energy Ltd., an Australian data center organization that offers computing resources for AI and Bitcoin mining, accessing powerful Nvidia Corp. GPUs.