French startup Poolside achieves a valuation of virtually $three billion for its AI that may write code

Paris-based AI startup Poolside is in talks to raise nearly $500 million at a $3 billion valuation, Bloomberg Reports.

Poolside is developing a ChatGPT-like Large Language Model (LLM) that writes software code – but the business plan remains top secret. The company has not yet launched its first product.

However, Poolside's website states that it is currently running an LLM training course where “graduates can improve by completing millions of tasks across tens of thousands of real-world software projects.”

The startup is currently focused on attracting developers and has shown investors a demo product for code generation, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

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Bain Capital Ventures, an existing investor in Poolside, is in talks to lead the latest investment round.

France is a growing hub for AI startups

Poolside was founded in April 2023 by Jason Warner and Eiso Kant. Warner was previously CTO at Microsoft-owned GitHub, which launched the AI-powered programming tool Copilot in 2021. Kant previously founded source{d}, which became one of the world's first companies dedicated to applying AI to code in 2016.

In August 2023, Poolside raised a whopping $126 million Seeding roundThe company then moved its headquarters from the United States to Paris, just months after French President Emmanuel Macron announced 500 million euro plan to promote the development of new AI “champions”.

France, and Paris in particular, have become a European stronghold for artificial intelligence. In June, OpenAI competitor Mistral raised €600 million with a valuation of 5.8 billion euros. In May, the startup Holistic (now simply H) secured 200 million USD in a round that values ​​the company at $370 million. Both startups are based in the City of Light.

Poolside in particular draws some parallels with Mistral, which also creates LLMs that write code. However, Mistral is primarily aimed at enterprise customers, not developers.

Published on September 13, 2024 – 11:23 UTC

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