Baseten: The AI Startup with a Funny Name

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Alright, listen up, you beautiful investors! You want in on the AI game, right? But unless you’re swimming in venture capital like Scrooge McDuck, those hotshot startups – OpenAI, Anthropic, the usual suspects – are off-limits. It’s a closed club! But don’t despair, folks. We can still observe the madness, track the money, and see who’s likely to IPO. And believe me, there’s plenty of madness to track. It’s like watching a particularly chaotic puppet show, only with billions of dollars at stake.

Now, let’s talk about Baseten. Yes, it sounds like a villain from a low-budget sci-fi movie, but it’s an AI infrastructure company. They focus on the “inference layer”—that’s the part that connects the brains of the AI to, well, us. Think of it as the AI’s nervous system. And they’re good at it. Apparently, they can cut inference costs by over 40%. Forty percent! That’s enough to make even a seasoned portfolio manager do a little jig.

Their revenue went from a modest $2.7 million in 2023 to a rather impressive $15.8 million in 2025. A five-times jump! It’s practically vertical. This propelled their valuation to a cool $5 billion after a recent $300 million funding round. And get this: Nvidia (NVDA 0.51%) threw in a hefty $150 million. Nvidia! That’s like the king of graphics cards endorsing the local chess club. It suggests they see something special. Or maybe they just have too much money. Either way, it’s a signal. A very expensive signal.

Now, I’m not saying this is a guaranteed home run. Valuations are getting a little frothy, shall we say? It’s like trying to buy beachfront property in Atlantis. But Baseten has a defensible niche, explosive growth, and the backing of a tech giant. That’s a potent combination. They’ll likely attract more funding, and they could become an acquisition target for a bigger player. Or, they could go public. But be warned: IPOs are like Russian roulette. Exciting, but potentially disastrous. Still, I’m keeping an eye on this one. It’s either going to be a brilliant success or a spectacular flop. And either way, it’ll be entertaining.

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2026-01-30 22:02