Tech giant Nvidia has acquired a four-year-old startup for artificial intelligence Kumo AI, co-founded by a Slovenian Jure Leskoveca full professor of computer science at Stanford University in the US.
Kumo AI builds artificial intelligence models focused on highly accurate business predictions. It’s the latest in a string of startups the chipmaker has acquired over the past few years. Nvidia did not disclose the terms of the acquisition, but the deal has already been closed, the two reported Fortune and The Information.
Kumo AI was founded by Leskovec together with Vanja Josifovski and Hemo Raghavan. All three are now employed by Nvidia, according to Fortune’s sources. The Information reported that the deal was worth at least $400 million.
Kumo AI is known for its highly accurate machine learning models that are trained and then fine-tuned based on customer business data. As Leskovec explained for the portal Forbes Sloveniatheir “tool can predict how much inventory you’ll have next week, what you need to order today to be in the warehouse on time, or detect the risk of late delivery.”
The chip maker has acquired several UI companies in recent years. PHOTO: I-hwa Cheng/AFP
One of the main advantages of their models is convenience, as companies can easily plug Kum’s models into their data warehouses and start predicting results using simple queries, for example: will this customer leave, what kind of demand can we expect in the next quarter.
Kum models structure an understandable response in natural language. The secret of their models is that it treats the data as a connected network of nodes and edges, so it can see how customers are connected to different products.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Kumo raised $37 million in venture capital in two rounds that took place in 2022, with Sequoia Capital as the lead investor. Its clients include Reddit Inc., DoorDash Inc. and British grocery chain J Sainsbury plc. Nvidia has acquired dozens of startups over the past few years, with Groq Inc. among the biggest acquisitions. and Illumex Ltd.
