Nvidia invests in Indian startup Simplismart to optimize AI inference

Nvidia has participated in a $14 million Series B funding round for Indian startup Simplismart, which develops software that helps companies run AI models more efficiently, in some cases with fewer GPUs. The all-primary round was led by Dallas Venture Capital, with Accel, Shastra VC, and Micromax also participating. The deal values the four-year-old company at about $100 million post-money.

Simplismart's software sits between AI models and the computing infrastructure they run on, adjusting how models are deployed and managed to meet customer requirements. The company says it can optimize factors such as response speed, request throughput, and compute consumption, allowing customers to get more out of existing GPU stacks. It also offers tools for fine-tuning models, auto-scaling resources, and monitoring performance, and lets cloud providers build and operate AI inference services on GPU infrastructure.

CEO and co-founder Amritanshu Jain said companies need to run models at speeds and costs that suit their specific applications, rather than simply pursuing the fastest or cheapest inference. Simplismart said its software helped AI video-generation platform InVideo cut GPU serving costs by 56%. Its customers also include AI video firms HeyGen and Higgsfield, enterprise AI startup Ema, and Indian cloud provider Yotta, which uses Simplismart's technology in its Shakti Studio platform.

Jain said the startup's annualized revenue run rate has grown 14-fold over the past six months to an eight-figure sum, with more than half of revenue coming from the U.S. Alongside the investment, Nvidia has been working with Simplismart on technical integrations, including around its Dynamo inference software. Simplismart plans to use the new funding to expand in the U.S., grow its team, and invest further in its inference software.