Surge AI Seeks $1 Billion in First-Ever Fundraise, Eyes $15 Billion Valuation

Data labeling company Surge AI is reportedly planning a $1 billion funding round, according to a Reuters report. The company has hired advisors for the capital raise, which would be its first. Founded by former Google and Meta engineer Edwin Chen, Surge AI is aiming for a valuation of more than $15 billion.

Sources familiar with the matter say that Surge AI took in more than $1 billion in revenue last year, while its better-known rival, Scale AI, reported $870 million in revenue in the same period. Scale AI was valued at nearly $29 billion when Meta took a 49% stake in the company and hired away CEO Alexandr Wang as chief AI officer for its new Superintelligence Labs.

The Reuters report notes that Surge AI is benefitting from Scale AI’s customer losses in the wake of Meta’s investment. Competitors like OpenAI and Google are also capitalizing on this shift. Google, previously Scale’s largest customer, is among the companies planning to move away from the platform due to concerns that being tied to Scale could expose their research priorities to Meta. Scale has maintained that its business is strong and it is committed to protecting customer data.

In other AI news, PYMNTS recently reported on the increasing importance of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) among chief financial officers (CFOs). The ranks of these executives who see GenAI as “very” or “extremely” important to their companies have about doubled across various use cases, according to the forthcoming CAIO report from PYMNTS Intelligence.

High-impact companies are pulling ahead in deploying GenAI effectively, using it for advanced functions like product and service innovation, generating real-time automated responses to customer queries, and developing contextualized emails or recommendations. These use cases have nearly or more than doubled compared to a year ago, according to the CFOs interviewed for the report.

Among medium- and low-impact companies, where GenAI is still in early to mid-stage deployment or relegated to entry-level tasks, CFOs generally see smaller gains or even declines in the impact of GenAI on their businesses, year over year.

The importance of these use cases is clear, with high-impact firms leveraging GenAI for strategic and advanced functions, while lower-impact firms mainly use the technology for entry-level tasks. This trend highlights the growing strategic importance of GenAI in business operations.