Sumana Adak, UK
(Asian independent) Bengaluru-based Simplismart has raised $14 million in a Series B round involving Nvidia, betting that more efficient AI inference can help businesses cut the cost and complexity of running increasingly demanding models. As the artificial intelligence boom puts growing pressure on computing infrastructure, Nvidia has backed Indian startup Simplismart in a $14 million funding round, investing in software designed to help companies run AI models more efficiently and, in some cases, with fewer GPUs. The all-primary Series B round was led by Dallas Venture Capital, with Nvidia participating alongside Accel, Shastra VC and Micromax. The investment values the four-year-old Bengaluru-based company at about $100 million, including the new capital.
The deal comes as businesses spend heavily on GPUs to support generative AI and other applications but face mounting challenges in operating models reliably and economically at scale. Different AI workloads require different balances between speed, performance and cost. Simplismart aims to automate much of that optimisation, allowing customers to tailor how AI models operate on their existing computing infrastructure rather than managing the configurations themselves. “Nobody actually needs the fastest or the cheapest inference,” Simplismart co-founder and chief executive Amritanshu Jain said. Companies instead need models to operate at speeds and costs appropriate for their specific applications, he added.
Simplismart’s software operates between AI models and the computing infrastructure supporting them. It adjusts how models are deployed and managed according to customer requirements, optimising factors including response times, request volumes and computing consumption. Companies can deploy models through Simplismart’s platform or use the technology within existing cloud and on premises infrastructure. Its tools also support model finetuning, automatic scaling of computing resources and performance monitoring. Cloud providers can use the software to build AI inference services on their own GPU infrastructure.
The startup says AI video generation platform InVideo reduced its GPU serving costs by 56% using its technology. Simplismart also works with AI video companies HeyGen and Higgsfield and enterprise AI startup Ema. Indian cloud provider Yotta uses its technology for the serverless AI inference service offered through the Shakti Studio platform. Jain said Simplismart’s annualised revenue run rate had increased 14-fold over the past six months to an eight-figure sum. The figure is based on recent customer usage rather than contracted recurring revenue and excludes revenue passed through to infrastructure providers. The company did not disclose an exact figure. More than half of Simplismart’s revenue comes from the United States, despite the company having more customers in India. Nvidia has also been working with Simplismart on technical integrations involving its Dynamo inference software. According to Jain, Simplismart engineers have worked with Nvidia’s solutions architects, while the chipmaker has helped introduce the startup to potential customers and partners. The investment highlights an unusual dynamic in the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure market. Nvidia, the dominant supplier of AI chips, is backing a company whose technology can allow some workloads to operate using fewer GPUs.
Jain argues that greater efficiency could ultimately benefit Nvidia by making its hardware more attractive and encouraging wider adoption of AI applications. Simplismart nevertheless faces intense competition. Its rivals include Nvidia’s own offerings as well as services from major cloud providers including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. A growing number of startups are also trying to make AI inference faster and cheaper as companies seek greater returns from expensive GPU infrastructure. “Where we tend to win is where people have to be more stringent on their SLAs service-level agreements) and TCO (total cost of ownership),” Jain said. Rather than offering customers preset choices between faster or cheaper inference, he said Simplismart seeks to find a balance tailored to individual business requirements. Founded in 2022 by former Oracle engineer Jain and former Google engineer Devansh Ghatak, Simplismart grew out of the pair’s experience developing and deploying machine-learning systems. They met while studying at BITS Pilani, and the company now employs 58 people.
Simplismart plans to use the new funding to expand its presence in the United States, grow its workforce and invest further in its inference technology, with the US remaining a key market for the company. The Series B follows reports that Simplismart had been in talks to raise $40 million to $50 million at a valuation of $300 million to $400 million. Jain declined to comment on those reports, saying the startup was not actively fundraising. He added that the Series B had closed and would not be extended.
