Fireworks AI raises $1.5 billion, valued at $17.5 billion

AI infrastructure startup Fireworks AI has raised $1.5 billion in a new funding round, achieving a valuation of $17.5 billion as demand surges for cost-effective, customized artificial intelligence models. The Series D round, announced on July 16, 2026, was jointly led by investment firms Atreides Management, Index Ventures, and TCV, with participation from Nvidia and a host of other venture capital firms.

The funding coincides with the company crossing the $1 billion threshold in annualized revenue, a figure that has grown fivefold over the past year. Fireworks also reported that the volume of tokens processed on its platform has climbed to more than 40 trillion per day, up from 15 trillion a year ago. The company last raised $250 million at a $4 billion valuation in October 2025.

Founded in 2022 by former Meta engineers, Fireworks provides a cloud platform that allows enterprises to fine-tune open-source AI models on their proprietary data and then deploy them into production. The company argues that this approach of creating "specialized intelligence" offers a significant cost advantage over using large, closed models from major AI labs. Chief Executive Officer Lin Qiao...