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AI inference company Baseten is close to finalizing a stunning $1.5 billion funding round at a $13 billion valuation, the WSJ reports.<\/a> Just five months ago, the startup announced that it had raised a $300 million Series E <\/a>at a $5 billion valuation. And that round was just nine months after raising a $150 million Series D.<\/a> <\/p>\n If finalized, this latest round would represent a 160% increase in valuation in less than half a year. However, the WSJ reports that this is a split-priced round<\/a>, a tactic startups are using to boost their headline valuation and make lead investors look good on paper. Some investors in this latest funding round are reportedly coming in at a $13 billion valuation, while others at $11 billion, sources told the Journal. This deal is said to be co-led by Spark Capital, Sands Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Wellington Management.\u00a0<\/p>\n Launched in 2019, Baseten is a startup benefiting from what The Next Wave hailed the \u201cinference gold rush,\u201d <\/a>in which VCs are pouring enormous amounts of money into companies building the inference layer. Inference is what the model does after a user submits a prompt. Baseten promises to handle inference quickly while controlling costs by routing requests to the best-for-task model, especially to competent, less-expensive open source alternatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n