South Korean startup VESSL AI has raised $12 million in a Series A funding round, focusing on its machine learning operations (MLOps) platform that promises to reduce GPU expenses by up to 80%. As AI continues to integrate into various business workflows, the demand for platforms to simplify the creation, testing, and deployment of machine learning models is on the rise. VESSL AI aims to stand out in the competitive MLOps space by optimizing GPU costs through a hybrid infrastructure that combines on-premise and cloud environments.
Founded in 2020 by Jaeman Kuss An, Jihwan Jay Chun, Intae Ryoo, and Yongseon Sean Lee, VESSL AI addresses the significant challenges in developing machine learning tools—challenges An faced firsthand while working at a medical tech startup. The founders’ experience at companies such as Google, PUBG, and other AI startups shaped their approach to building a more efficient and cost-effective platform.
VESSL AI’s platform utilizes a multi-cloud strategy, selecting the most cost-effective GPU resources from providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Lambda. By leveraging spot instances and automatically managing resources, the platform helps companies cut GPU costs and manage GPU shortages, essential for training and deploying large language models (LLMs) and other AI models.
The startup has already secured 50 enterprise customers, including major names like Hyundai, TMAP Mobility, and LIG Nex1. It also partners strategically with Oracle and Google Cloud in the U.S. VESSL AI’s user base exceeds 2,000.
VESSL AI offers several key features in its MLOps platform: VESSL Run for automating AI model training, VESSL Serve for real-time deployment, VESSL Pipelines for integrating model training and data preprocessing, and VESSL Cluster for optimizing GPU usage in cluster environments. These tools streamline workflows and support companies aiming to develop custom AI models and vertical AI agents.
The Series A round, led by investors including A Ventures, Ubiquoss Investment, Mirae Asset Securities, and others, brings VESSL AI’s total funding to $16.8 million. The company currently employs 35 people across its offices in South Korea and San Mateo, U.S.
Featured Image courtesy of Asian Legal Business
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