Weaviate raises $50 million in funding – including from ING Ventures – as the generative AI boom spurs greater interest in vector database technology.
Vector databases, which store and index unstructured data from text, image, or audio in a specialized way, are a critical underlying component to generative AI applications. This infrastructure will continue to grow in importance as generative AI apps take off.
A data tool just raised a hefty Series B to enable AI application development.
Amsterdam-based Weaviate announced $50 million in fresh funding, including from the venture arm of banking giant ING.
Weaviate’s technology makes it easier and faster for organizations to generate, store, index, retrieve, and share unstructured data, through a format called vectors. Vectors allow unstructured data to be analyzed for semantic similarities and can provide context for generative AI models.
“The Weaviate vector database is used as core infrastructure in the emerging AI-native ecosystem,” according to Weaviate CEO Bob van Luijt. “It allows users, from startups to enterprises, to create a new wave of applications, ranging from custom-made search and recommendation systems to ChatGPT plugins.”
As large language models continue to gain steam, vector data management tools will too. Other firms in this space include Pinecone, QDrant, and Insight Partners’ portfolio company Relevance AI.