Decart raises $25 million, surges to $500 million valuation just weeks after Seed round
The Israeli startup raised $21 million in its Seed round, led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Oren Zeev, at a post-money valuation of $100 million.
The final days of November are evoking a sense of déjà vu from 2021 for many in the high-tech industry. Companies are securing substantial funding with significant valuation jumps, even before achieving meaningful revenues. This pattern is evident in the cases of Cyera and Eon, and now, Calcalist reveals that Israeli startup Decart is raising $25 million at an estimated valuation of $500 million.
Full list of Israeli high-tech funding rounds in 2024
This funding round, coming shortly after the company’s Seed round announced late last month, aims to deepen Decart’s penetration into the consumer market. The lead investor in this round is Benchmark, known for its past activity in Israel and its extensive investment history. In its Seed funding round, Decart raised $21 million, led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Oren Zeev, at a post-money valuation of $100 million.
The company was established in late 2023 by Dean Leitersdorf (CEO) and Moshe Shalev (CPO). Moshe previously held key technological positions within the Intelligence Division, including in Unit 8200. Dean, also a veteran of Unit 8200, completed his doctoral studies in computer science at the Technion by the age of 23 while still in military service. Upon their discharge, the two began building an AI lab to address significant challenges in the field of artificial intelligence.
Decart has built an AI infrastructure platform that enhances the efficiency of AI models, offering faster and more reliable training as well as real-time inference. Leveraging these capabilities, Decart is now training AI foundation models to create new generative AI experiences. Based in Tel Aviv, Decart currently employs 25 people.
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Amid its launch, Decart unveiled its first generative experience model - an interactive AI video game that operates ten times more efficiently than traditional AI models. This model represents one of the first fully playable world models in GenAI history, enabling players to create a playable gaming experience with minimal latency. Typically, such models require tens of millions of dollars for training and even more for deployment at scale, but Decart's technological capabilities across the entire AI stack have made this achievement possible as an early-stage startup.
The company did not respond to the report.
