io.net raises $25 million to solve AI computing shortage by building “Internet of GPUs”
Posted: March 5, 2024 1:45 PM Updated: March 5, 2024 1:45 PM
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io.net raises $25 million to solve AI computing shortage by building “Internet of GPUs”
New York, March 5, 2024 — io.net, the largest decentralized network for GPU computing, today announced a $25 million Series A round. Series A was led by Hack VC, with participation from Multicoin Capital, 6th Man Ventures, M13, Delphi Digital, Solana Labs, Aptos Labs, and OKX, as well as prominent industry leaders including Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenk, Aptos founders Mo Shaikh, and Avery. Ching and Jin Kang of Perlone Capital. The Series A round also saw significant participation from Asia-based funds, including Foresight Ventures, Longhash, SevenX, ArkStream and MH Ventures. The capital will be used to expand the team, accelerate the growth of the io.net Cloud, and continue building the IO Network into the world’s largest decentralized GPU network.
IO Network is a distributed physical infrastructure network (DePIN) that consolidates underutilized GPU resources into scalable virtual clusters for AI and ML enterprises. A developer and user interface built on the network, io.net Cloud allows you to easily deploy and manage GPU clusters, including type, host, location, GPU type, and security level, with just a few clicks.
“AI is not just standing still, it is accelerating at a tremendous rate. As demand for computing outstrips supply, costs are rising and engineers have fewer options. We are clustering GPUs from geographically distributed sources and democratizing access to GPUs at a fraction of the cost of centralized cloud services,” said Ahmad Shahid, founder and CEO of io.net. “This funding will help us grow our team, decentralize our network, and advance our mission to make AI a ubiquitous resource around the world.”
In March 2023, io.net was selected as one of the winners of the Solana Hyperdrive Hackathon, with over 7,000 participants and 907 final projects. Four months later, the company unveiled io.net Cloud at Breakpoint, Solana’s annual community summit in Amsterdam. In the short time since launch, the network has grown to over 24,000 GPUs and processed over 30,000 hours of compute time for customers like YC startup DL Software.
“The io.net protocol allows our customers to save up to 90% on their cloud AI costs,” said Ed Roman, managing partner at Hack VC. “At a time when GPU chips are both in short supply and in high demand globally, this is a truly remarkable achievement. The team is working harder than any team we’ve seen on web3, and their drive and determination will serve them well in the years ahead. “We are grateful to collaborate with them.”
In addition to providing on-demand GPU resources that are incredibly in demand due to the AI renaissance, IO Network also offers structural cost advantages over traditional hyperscalers such as AWS and Azure. Instead of repackaging and exposing AWS, io.net incentivizes listing capacity on the IO Network to underutilized or underutilized resource providers such as independent data centers, cryptocurrency miners, or consumer GPUs. io.net Cloud then virtualizes these resources, giving developers nearly infinite scalability and control over their clusters at a low cost.
“io.net has the potential to democratize GPU computing at a time when GPUs are the most scarce commodity in the world,” said Shayon Sengupta, Investment Partner at Multicoin Capital. “Industry analysts are still fundamentally underestimating how much computing power will be needed to enable the next generation of AI apps. io.net is the only trusted solution for onboarding the new GPU capacity needed to build a new fab manufacturing center from the ground up.”
Last December, io.net announced major partnerships with Render Network and Filecoin to supply hardware to the IO Network. Companies like Krea.ai are already using io.net’s decentralized cloud services to power AI model inference.
In February of this year, io.net announced its Ignition Rewards program, which provides incentives to network and community members who contribute GPU capacity, use io.net cloud computing for their applications, or participate in projects on social media and Discord. The program announcement comes ahead of the project’s expected IO token launch later this year.
To learn more about io.net, become a capacity provider, or access compute capacity at low costs, visit https://www.io.net.
Introduction to io.net
io.net deploys and manages on-demand distributed GPU clusters on the IO Network. The IO Network is a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) of geographically distributed GPUs from multiple sources. Hundreds of thousands of GPUs are now accessible on the IO Network, an Internet of GPUs designed specifically for low-latency, high-processing demand use cases such as AI/ML workloads and cloud gaming. io.net democratizes access to GPU compute capacity while reducing costs, shortening lead times, and expanding choice for engineers and enterprises. Access compute capacity for a fraction of the cost or become a capacity provider at https://www.io.net.
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Introduction to Hacking VC
Hack VC is a web3 venture capital firm with on-chain and off-chain partnerships with hackers building the future of the internet. The company invests in blockchain infrastructure and web3-based companies through investments in over 100 companies and protocols. Hack VC operates hack.labs(), an in-house technology platform for institutional-level network participation, through which its team of blockchain engineers and quantitative researchers provide liquidity, equity, and open source contributions. Hack VC also created and hosts hack.summit(), a global developer community and one of the world’s largest blockchain programmer events, with over 130,000 attendees from over 150 countries across events to date.
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Gregory, a digital nomad from Poland, is not only a financial analyst but also a valuable contributor to various online magazines. With his extensive experience in the financial industry, his insights and expertise have been recognized by numerous publications. Making effective use of his spare time, Gregory is currently devoted to writing books on cryptocurrency and blockchain.
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Gregory, a digital nomad from Poland, is not only a financial analyst but also a valuable contributor to various online magazines. With his extensive experience in the financial industry, his insights and expertise have been recognized by numerous publications. Making effective use of his spare time, Gregory is currently devoted to writing books on cryptocurrency and blockchain.