Hugging Face Secures $40M to Expand Open-Source NLP Community
Artificial intelligence startup Hugging Face raises $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Addition to grow its open-source language model development platform. The company currently builds custom machine learning models for over 100 enterprise clients.
Hugging Face, a machine learning startup based in Paris and New York, raises USD 40m in a Series B funding round. The investment round closes on March 11, 2021, and Addition leads the effort with participation from Lux Capital, A.Capital, and Betaworks. Notable individual investors also contribute, including the CEOs of MongoDB and Dataiku along with Salesforce's former chief scientist.
The company plans to use the new capital to grow an open-source community dedicated to language model development. This strategic goal shows a significant shift from the startup's original product, which is a chatbot designed to gauge user moods and adjust its responses accordingly.
Hugging Face currently creates custom machine learning models for over 100 clients, including major corporations like Bloomberg and Qualcomm. Despite receiving acquisition interests from major technology companies, CEO Clément Delangue states that the company remains committed to staying independent.