July 16, 2026

Fireworks raised $1.5bn on a bet that companies will build AI, not rent it

Someone is sketching a design on paper
Vitaly Gariev / Unsplash

The AI economy has run on a simple habit: rent a model from a big lab. Fireworks just raised $1.5bn to argue the opposite, that every company will build intelligence of its own. The Series D values the San Mateo startup at $17.5bn, it said. Atreides...