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Filed under Dev Tool · 2025

CentML

2022 - 2025, 4 years old

A Canadian startup that built an optimization layer between AI models and chips to squeeze more performance and lower cost out of compute.

CentML was founded in 2022 by University of Toronto professor Gennady Pekhimenko and three colleagues to sit between machine-learning models and the hardware they run on, wringing out cost and latency. It raised about 31 million dollars, anchored by a 27 million dollar seed round in October 2023 led by Google's Gradient Ventures, with Nvidia among its backers. Less than two years later Nvidia bought the company outright, and CentML told customers it would discontinue its services on July 17, 2025. The startup that optimized other people's compute became a line item on the balance sheet of the company that sells it.

Founded
2022-01
Shut down
2025-07-17
Funding raised
$31M
Years alive
4
Founders
Gennady Pekhimenko, Akbar Nurlybayev, Anand Jayarajan

Sources

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