AI chip unicorn Hailo raises another $120 million to bring GenAI to edge devices
AI chip unicorn Hailo raises another $120 million to bring GenAI to edge devices
The Israeli startup, which took its total funding to $340 million, also announced the Hailo-10, its newest AI accelerator specifically designed to process LLMs at low power consumption for the personal computer and automotive industries
Hailo, which develops edge artificial intelligence (AI) processors, announced on Tuesday that it has extended its Series C fundraising round with an additional investment of $120 million. At the same time, the company announced the introduction of its Hailo-10 high-performance generative AI (GenAI) accelerators, allowing users to run GenAI applications locally without registering to cloud-based GenAI services.
The new funding round was led by current and new investors including the Zisapel family, Gil Agmon, Delek Motors, Alfred Akirov, DCLBA, Vasuki, OurCrowd, Talcar, Comasco, Automotive Equipment (AEV), and Poalim Equity. To date the company has raised more than $340 million.
“The closing of our new funding round enables us to leverage all the exciting opportunities in our pipeline, while setting the stage for our long-term future growth. Together with the introduction of our Hailo-10 GenAI accelerator, it strategically positions us to bring classic and generative AI to edge devices in ways that will significantly expand the reach and impact of this remarkable new technology,” said Hailo CEO and Co-Founder Orr Danon. “We designed Hailo-10 to seamlessly integrate GenAI capabilities into users’ daily lives, freeing users from cloud network constraints. This empowers them to utilize chatbots, copilots, and other emerging content generation tools with unparalleled flexibility and immediacy, enhancing productivity and enriching lives,” he emphasized.
Danon told Calcalist the the company currently works with 300 customers and is expecting to reach $100 million in ARR in the coming years.
Hailo, founded in 2017, became a unicorn when it raised $136 million in a Series C in October 2021. It currently employs over 250 people in its offices in Tel Aviv, the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan.
Enabling GenAI at the edge ensures continuous access to GenAI services, regardless of network connectivity; obviates network latency concerns, which can otherwise impact GenAI performance; promotes privacy by keeping personal information anonymized and enhances sustainability by reducing reliance on the substantial processing power of cloud data centers.
Early applications of Hailo-10 GenAI accelerators will be targeting PCs and automotive infotainment systems, replacing an older generation of lower performance CPUs that cannot by themselves power the chatbots, copilots, personal assistants, and speech-operated operating systems that have become standard today. Hailo will begin shipping samples of the Hailo-10 GenAI accelerator in Q2 of 2024.
“As GenAI on the edge becomes immersive, the focus turns to handling large LLMs in the smallest possible power envelope — essentially less than five watts,” Danon continued. “Whether users employ GenAI to automate real-time translation or summarization services, generate software code, or images and videos from text prompts, Hailo-10 lets them do it directly on their PCs or other edge systems, without straining the CPU or draining the battery.”
