AI infrastructure startup Modal raised a $750M Series D led by Accel at a $15.75B post-money valuation, taking its total funding to $1.2B, and passes $1B ARR
AI infrastructure startup Modal raised a $750 million Series D at a $15.75 billion post-money valuation and topped $1 billion in ARR …
AxiosChris Metinko
Context & Ripple Effects
Modal's funding trajectory had already accelerated from a $1.1 billion valuation in 2025 to its $4.65 billion Series C in May. September reporting then placed it in talks around $15 billion; the completed round turns that reported benchmark into a financed valuation.
The raise also fits Accel's stated strategy of deploying large late-stage and follow-on checks through its expansion and Leaders funds. Modal's reported $1 billion ARR gives the investment a revenue marker alongside the rapid valuation increase.
First-order effects
Modal adds $750 million of financing to expand the serverless platform it sells for AI application building and inference, while reaching $1.2 billion in total funding.
Accel takes a leading position in a company whose valuation has risen sharply since the May Series C, reinforcing its capacity to make large growth-stage investments.
Second-order effects
Modal's completed financing establishes a concrete valuation and revenue benchmark for inference-platform rivals; Baseten had been reported as seeking funding at a higher valuation in September.
Customers choosing AI infrastructure gain a better-capitalized Modal, increasing pressure on competing providers to demonstrate both scalable inference operations and recurring revenue.
Third-order effects
If large rounds continue to follow demonstrated ARR, AI infrastructure finance will concentrate around providers that can translate compute capacity into recurring software-like revenue.
The pattern favors a capital stack in which growth investors fund the infrastructure layer directly, rather than limiting AI investment to application makers.
The trend: AI infrastructure investing is increasingly rewarding inference and platform providers that pair large capital needs with measurable recurring revenue.
Every serious AI team we talk to eventually says the same thing: “we run it on Modal.” @bernhardsson, @akshat_b and team built the infra developers actually love using. Thrilled that @kleinerperkins is joining the journey. Let's go @modal!
When I first visited Modal's NYC office, I asked an engineer who had just joined why he chose Modal. His response was “Because it's a monastery of supernerds.
From the start, @modal radically reimagined a seamless developer experience @bernhardsson @akshat_b & @modal have built the primitives underpinning the most important AI workloads They're growing 15x, passed $1B run rate & raised a $750M Series D!
$1B+ ARR and 15x YoY growth is absolutely wild, and couldn't happen to a more cracked team. 📈 From day one, @modal has had some of the most magical Python developer experience in the ecosystem - just write code and it runs on GPUs in seconds. Thrilled to be a tiny investor and ma…
We're honored to invest further with this remarkable team and remarkable company @modal - @bernhardsson & @akshat_b — where its still just the very beginning ... @Accel @MocorreaGonzalo (thx & h/t to @patrickachase @max_rimpel @sarahcat21 @htaneja @breeves08 )
Today we're announcing that Modal has crossed $1B in annualized run rate, as well as raised a $750M Series D at a $15.75B valuation, led by @Accel. Since our Series C, usage has tripled and we've grown more than 15x year-over-year. We are deeply grateful to the developers and com…
Modal just announced they crossed $1B in annualized run rate revenue and raised a $750M Series D! The round was led by Accel and the company is now valued at $15.75B. @modal is an AI infrastructure platform that powers LLM inference, agent sandboxes, and model training. They rais…