- Vast Data is reportedly in advanced talks with Nvidia and Capital G for a major funding round worth billions
- The company specialises in storage systems for AI data centers and counts xAI and CoreWeave as clients
- With strong revenue, profitability, and acquisition potential, Vast is seen as a top IPO candidate in the near future
Alphabet’s growth-stage investment arm ‘Capital G’ and chipmaker Nvidia have started advanced discussions to back AI infrastructure start-up called Vast Data in a fresh funding round that could push its valuation up to $30 billion, according to Reuters report.
The start-up is securing billions in fresh capital from a mix of tech giants, private equity firms, and venture partners, which could potentially position it among the most valuable players in the AI space. The report stated that the discussions regarding the fundraise could close in the next few weeks.
Vast Data is a New York-based start-up, which builds specialised storage systems tailored for large-scale AI data centers, optimising how data flows between GPUs from companies like Nvidia. Its clients include Elon Musk’s XAI, and CoreWeave.
Analysts, as quoted by the report, said that its critical role in the AI infrastructure stack has made it a compelling acquisition target. Currently, the company is free cash flow positive, said Vast Data CEO Renen Halak.
As of January 2025, the company had reached $200 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), with a strong backlog of orders and projections to triple that figure to $600 million by next year, Reuters reported. So far, it has raised about $380 million, with its most recent funding round in 2023 pegging its valuation at $9.1 billion.
Going forward, Vast Data is open to going public when market conditions are favourable. Although an IPO isn’t expected in the near term, the report revealed that investors and bankers widely see the data infrastructure company as a strong contender for a future listing.
Last year, it hired Amy Shapero as its first chief financial officer, who previously worked on the same role at ecommerce giant Shopify.
This comes at a time when M&A activity in the AI infrastructure space is picking up pace, with Nvidia actively expanding its portfolio beyond GPUs through strategic acquisitions.
In 2020, it acquired Mellanox, a maker of networking chips and cables, which has since played a key role in Nvidia’s integrated systems powered by its latest Blackwell chips.
It has also snapped up software firms like Run:ai, which helps optimse AI hardware usage in data centers. Vast Data, meanwhile, combines flash-based storage hardware with proprietary software that streamlines data access and movement—an approach the company claims lowers the cost of deploying large-scale AI models.
