New York-based startup LastMile AI has secured $10 million in seed funding to expand its platform, which helps software engineers integrate generative AI models into their apps. The funding round was led by Gradient, Google’s AI-focused venture fund, with participation from AME Cloud Ventures, Vercel’s Guillermo Rauch, 10x Founders, and Exceptional Capital. LastMile’s CEO Sarmad Qadri said the funds will be used to build out the company’s products and services and expand its team. He aims to democratize generative AI by streamlining tooling and workflows and simplifying the need for deep technical expertise.
Qadri and LastMile’s other co-founders were previously members of Meta’s product engineering team. Qadri said that the tools they built during their time at Meta served as the inspiration for LastMile. The startup aims to empower software engineers by providing AI developer tools specifically tailored for them, rather than for machine learning research scientists. This is important because many companies struggle with implementing AI from scratch and may take years to fully integrate the technology into their workflows.
According to a recent survey by S&P Global, around half of IT leaders believe that their organizations are not ready to implement AI, with many still in the pilot or proof-of-concept stage. However, 80% of executives in a 2022 Gartner survey believe that automation can be applied to any business decision. Model management is seen as a top roadblock, but AI talent is not considered as big of an issue as expected.
LastMile’s platform allows customers to create generative AI apps using text- and image-generating models from both open and closed-source providers. Users can experiment with different models and chain them together to build more complex workflows. LastMile aims to provide a single developer platform that encompasses the entire lifecycle of AI app development, making it easier for non-machine learning software engineers to develop AI-powered apps and workflows.
While LastMile faces competition in the AI tooling and deployment space, Qadri sees a massive opportunity for the startup. With the market for AI model operations projected to reach $16.61 billion by 2030, LastMile has the potential to make waves in this fast-growing industry. The platform aims to solve the last mile issues that prevent businesses from incorporating AI into their applications by providing better AI developer tools for rapid experimentation and evaluation, orchestration infrastructure, and monitoring and observability.
Now, it’s your turn to weigh in on this exciting development. What do you think about LastMile’s mission to democratize generative AI? Do you believe that better AI developer tools can overcome the obstacles that prevent businesses from fully embracing AI? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts!
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