Vast Data has officially closed a $1 billion Series F funding round, tripling its valuation to $30 billion. The round was led by Drive Capital and Access Industries, with high-profile participation from Nvidia, Fidelity, and NEA.
Key Financial Performance
While many AI startups are still pre-revenue, Vast Data’s valuation is backed by significant commercial momentum:
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Bookings: Surpassed $4 billion in cumulative bookings.
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Revenue: Exited the fiscal year with over $500 million in Committed Annual Recurring Revenue (CARR).
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Efficiency: Reported a “Rule of X” score of 228%, a metric used to measure a balance of high growth and strong profitability.
Why It Matters: The “AI Operating System”
Vast Data doesn’t just store data; it positions itself as the “AI Operating System.” Its unique DASE (Disaggregated Shared Everything) architecture allows organizations to manage millions of GPUs simultaneously without the data bottlenecks that typically slow down large-scale AI training.
Core Customers Include:
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Mistral AI: Using Vast to manage datasets for training frontier models.
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CoreWeave: The specialized cloud provider utilizing Vast for its massive GPU clusters.
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U.S. Air Force & Cursor: Relying on the platform for high-stakes, data-intensive applications.
The Strategic Role of Nvidia
Nvidia’s participation in this round is more than just a financial bet; it is a strategic alignment. As the world’s dominant AI chipmaker, Nvidia needs the “data plumbing” to be as fast as its GPUs. By backing Vast Data, Nvidia ensures that its hardware (like the H100 and GB200 systems) has a software infrastructure capable of feeding them data at the necessary speeds.
The 2026 AI Funding Landscape
This deal is part of a record-breaking year for AI investment. Globally, AI companies have raised $280.5 billion so far in 2026. While the “Big Three” (OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI) have secured over $170 billion of that total, the rise of Vast Data shows that the “infrastructure class” is now commanding “decacorn” valuations.
