British AI neocloud Nscale is acquiring software startup Anyscale, which assists companies in scaling their AI workloads across data centres and servers. The reported purchase price for Anyscale is $1.65 billion, according to Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source.
Anyscale, founded by the team behind the open-source Project Ray, initially built a platform for projects requiring significant computing power. Following the launch of GPT-3 in 2022, the company pivoted to offer scaling services for training and serving large language models, data curation, inferencing, and reinforcement learning.
This acquisition aligns with Nscale's strategy to build vertically to serve compute needs, expanding its business lines to include workload management and scaling. Anyscale stated that this collaboration will allow both companies to "co-design the software layer and infrastructure beneath it."
Nscale raised $2 billion in a Series C round in March, valuing the company at $14.6 billion. Anyscale, valued at $1.38 billion in a 2022 Series C round, reported a 70% increase in revenue in its most recent quarter compared to the previous sequential quarter. Anyscale's approximately 200 employees will join Nscale, and the startup will maintain its own branding and customer service.