[Computing Power Leasing Service Provider Baseten Set to Finalize $1.5 Billion Financing, Dual-Tier Valuation Reaches $13 Billion] According to monitoring by Beating, AI inference service provider Baseten is finalizing a new $1.5 billion financing round. Compared to the proposal three months ago to raise $1 billion at a $11 billion valuation, the finalized financing amount has increased by $500 million. The valuation has also been adjusted to a dual-tier structure, with some investors subscribing at an $11 billion valuation and others following at a $13 billion valuation. This round is co-led by Altimeter Capital, Conviction, Spark Capital, Sands Capital, and Wellington Management, marking Wellington Management's first investment in the AI inference sector. Baseten builds a software layer on top of the computing power of 20 cloud service providers, helping enterprises fine-tune and run open-source models. Current clients include programming assistant Cursor, Mercor, and OpenEvidence. As open-source models like DeepSeek, Kimi, and NVIDIA's Nemotron approach the performance of cutting-edge closed-source models, enterprises are shifting to hybrid architectures to control costs. Baseten CEO Tuhin Srivastava stated that switching to open-source models for specific tasks reduces costs to just 30% of those of closed-source models. The surge in open-source models has driven strong demand for underlying computing power, leading to explosive revenue growth for Baseten. By the end of Q1 2026, annual recurring revenue (ARR) had grown from $200 million at the beginning of the quarter to $600 million, a 20-fold increase compared to the same period last year. However, Baseten faces the risk of squeezed gross margins as it relies on renting GPUs from cloud giants for resale. Despite concerns over profitability, the typically cautious institutional investor Wellington Management has entered the market, completing its first investment in the AI inference sector. This move is seen within the industry as a signal of the enduring viability of the computing power intermediary sector. [Original Link]