速递｜a16z全程跟进：vLLM之父创AI推理Inferact，顶级投资阵容融资，估值达8亿美元

Core Insights - Inferact, an AI startup founded by the creators of the open-source software vLLM, has completed a $150 million seed funding round, achieving a valuation of $800 million [2] - The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Altitude Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and ZhenFund [2] - Inferact focuses on the inference stage of AI, which involves running existing models efficiently and reliably, rather than building new models [2][4] Company Overview - Inferact was founded in November 2025 and is led by CEO Simon Mo, one of the original maintainers of the vLLM project [3] - The company aims to support vLLM as an independent open-source project while also developing commercial products to help enterprises run AI models more efficiently on various hardware [4] - The vLLM project, initiated by the University of California, Berkeley, has attracted contributions from thousands of developers in the AI industry [2][3] Market Context - The interest from investors reflects a broader shift in the AI industry, where developers can now utilize existing powerful models without waiting for significant upgrades [3] - The inference stage is becoming a bottleneck, increasing costs and putting pressure on systems, which may worsen in the coming years [4] - The significant seed funding indicates the scale of market opportunities, with even minor efficiency improvements having a substantial impact on costs [4] Application Example - An example of vLLM's widespread application is Amazon, which relies on the software for both its cloud services and shopping applications to run internal AI systems [5]