By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, June 23 (Reuters) – Baseten, a California-based artificial intelligence startup co-founded by Australians, said it raised $1.5 ‌billion in a funding round that valued the company ‌at $13 billion, underscoring the surge of capital flowing into AI firms.

The round was ​led by U.S.-based investors Sands Capital and Wellington Management, Baseten said late on Monday. Top Australian venture capital firm Blackbird VC said it contributed the firm’s biggest-ever investment, without specifying an amount.

Baseten ‌sells software and infrastructure ⁠that let companies customise their own AI models, using what it says is a cheaper alternative ⁠to providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

The company said its revenue has grown 20-fold over the past year as demand rises for “inference” — ​the stage ​where trained AI models generate ​outputs in real-world applications.

The ‌deal is Baseten’s fourth capital raising in 18 months and highlights investor appetite for companies supplying infrastructure to commercialise generative AI.

“It’s a signal of conviction,” said Blackbird partner Michael Tolo in a phone interview, describing his firm’s decision to increase its stake.

He ‌said Blackbird’s latest outlay may be ​the biggest to date by an ​Australian venture capital firm.

For ​companies building AI into their tech systems, Baseten ‌competes with companies like OpenAI and ​Anthropic at ​a lower price, and “this is the biggest shift that we’ve seen in both unit economics and competitive leverage within ​the AI market so ‌far”, Tolo said.

Baseten said it would use the funds ​to expand computing capacity, software and hiring.

(Reporting by Byron ​Kaye; Editing by Jamie Freed)