Lambda,
the GPU cloud company founded by AI engineers and powered by NVIDIA
GPUs, announced that it has secured a special purpose GPU
financing vehicle of up to $500 million to fund the expansion of its
on-demand cloud offering. The financing was led by Macquarie Group
("Macquarie") with participation from Industrial Development Funding
("IDF"), and follows Lambda's $320 million Series C funding round in February 2024.
"This
first-of-its-kind financing vehicle unlocks a new way to fund the
deployment of tens of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs," said Mitesh Agrawal,
Lambda COO. "Lambda's mission is to continue to build the best AI
compute platform in the world, and this structure lets our AI startup
customers build the next generation of iconic companies on top of our
cloud without the barrier of expensive multi-year contracts."
This
innovative asset-based structure is secured by the GPUs and supported
by their cash flow generation. It represents a significant milestone
within the AI compute market, and allows Lambda to fund on-demand cloud
deployments for thousands of users without the need for them to sign a
long-term contract. Securing funding for an on-demand offering is rare
and serves as a testament to the leadership position and explosive
demand for Lambda Cloud, which has more than 100,000 customer sign-ups.
This financing supports NVIDIA GPU deployments for AI developers
training, fine-tuning, and inferencing generative AI models in Lambda
Cloud. Lambda also supports NVIDIA AI Enterprise to deliver a complete
stack for generative AI developers.
"As
demand for computing picks up pace alongside the widespread integration
of LLMs and generative AI, we're happy to support Lambda as they
deliver what AI engineers need," said Don Trent, Senior Managing
Director in Macquarie Group's Commodities and Global Markets business.
"We're proud to partner with Lambda on such a pioneering effort and
support the buildout of GPU cloud infrastructure that will transform
industries and businesses alike."
Lazard
served as exclusive financial advisor and placement agent to Lambda on
this transaction. To learn more about Lambda's cloud offerings for AI
training and inference, click here.