Applied Compute has raised $350 million at a $3.25 billion valuation. Angel investor Elad Gil led the round, which the San Francisco company announced on November 2, 2026.
The AI cloud startup also said its annualized revenue run rate has passed $100 million. It got there less than 18 months after launch, according to the company.
Applied Compute funding round details
Nvidia, Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital and Blackstone joined the round. Shopify Ventures and HubSpot Ventures also invested, along with more than a dozen other firms.
Latham & Watkins advised Applied Compute on the deal. Crunchbase ranked it the fifth-largest US startup round for the week of October 31 to November 6.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Amount raised | $350 million |
| Valuation | $3.25 billion |
| Lead investor | Elad Gil |
| Notable investors | Nvidia, Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital, Blackstone, Shopify Ventures, HubSpot Ventures |
| Announced | November 2, 2026 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Revenue run rate | More than $100 million |
What Applied Compute does
Applied Compute retrains open-weight AI models on a company’s own data. It then runs those custom models for the customer on its cloud platform.
Rhythm Garg, Yash Patil and Linden Li founded the company. All three previously worked as researchers at OpenAI.
Microsoft and DoorDash are among its customers, SiliconANGLE reported. The company says the number of enterprises it serves has more than doubled since its April raise.
Applied Compute valuation history
The new valuation is about 2.5 times the $1.3 billion post-money mark set in April 2026. Kleiner Perkins led that $80 million round, with Elad Gil, Lux, Greenoaks, Neo and Hanabi taking part.
Applied Compute crossed $1 billion with that April round. For comparison, CB Insights put the median time to unicorn status at 3.4 years for 2026’s new AI unicorns, as tracked in these AI unicorn statistics for 2026.
Applied Compute funding rounds to date
Benchmark led a $20 million seed round. In October 2025, Applied Compute came out of stealth with $80 million from Benchmark, Sequoia and Lux.
| Round | Date | Amount | Valuation | Lead or key investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | Not disclosed | $20M | Not disclosed | Benchmark |
| Stealth exit | October 2025 | $80M | Not disclosed | Benchmark, Sequoia, Lux |
| Growth | April 2026 | $80M | $1.3B | Kleiner Perkins |
| Growth | November 2026 | $350M | $3.25B | Elad Gil |
Those four rounds add up to about $530 million in disclosed funding.
Applied Compute revenue run rate and growth
Run rate is a company’s current monthly revenue multiplied by 12. It shows the pace of revenue today, not revenue booked over a full year.
Applied Compute says it went from zero to more than $100 million in run rate in under 18 months. It has not published full-year revenue or profit figures.
How Applied Compute will spend the $350 million
The company plans to add compute capacity, hire staff and speed up enterprise deployments. Forbes reported that most of the money will buy chips to grow its cloud.
Nvidia, which sells the GPUs most AI clouds run on, is now among its investors.
Applied Compute funding and the AI infrastructure market
Investors have put large checks into AI compute platforms this fall. Modal Labs’ $750 million Series D led AI funding in mid-October at a $15.75 billion valuation.
Fal raised $1.3 billion at a $16 billion valuation in early November, Bloomberg reported. Fal hosts image, video and audio models for developers.
Applied Compute works differently. It trains a custom model for each enterprise customer and then runs it.
FAQ
How much did Applied Compute raise?
Applied Compute raised $350 million at a $3.25 billion valuation, announced November 2, 2026. Elad Gil led the round, with Nvidia, Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital and Blackstone participating.
What does Applied Compute do?
Applied Compute retrains open-weight AI models on enterprise data and runs them for customers on its cloud. Microsoft and DoorDash are among its customers.
Who founded Applied Compute?
Rhythm Garg, Yash Patil and Linden Li founded Applied Compute. All three are former OpenAI researchers. The company is based in San Francisco.
What is Applied Compute’s revenue?
The company says its annualized revenue run rate topped $100 million within 18 months of launch. It has not released full-year revenue or profit figures.
How much has Applied Compute raised in total?
Applied Compute has raised about $530 million across four disclosed rounds: a $20 million seed, $80 million in October 2025, $80 million in April 2026 and $350 million in November 2026.
