French startup Poolside nears $3B valuation for AI that can write code

Paris-based AI startup Poolside is in discussions to raise nearly $500mn at a $3bn valuation, Bloomberg reports.  

Poolside is developing a ChatGPT-like large language model (LLM) that writes software code — but the business plan remains hush-hush. The company has yet to launch its first product.

However, on its website Poolside states that it is currently training its LLM by “allowing it to improve by completing millions of tasks in tens of thousands of real world software projects.” 

The startup is currently focused on winning over developers and has shown a demo code-generation product to investors, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

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Bain Capital Ventures, an existing investor in Poolside, is in talks to lead the latest investment round.  

France is a growing hub for AI startups 

Poolside was founded in April 2023 by Jason Warner and Eiso Kant. Warner was previously CTO at Microsoft-owned GitHub, which launched the AI-powered programming tool Copilot back in 2021. Kant previously founded source{d}, which in 2016 became one of the world’s first companies dedicated to applying AI to code. 

In August 2023, Poolside raised a massive $126mn seed round, after which it moved its HQ from the US to Paris. That move came just a few months after French president Emmanuel Macron announced a €500mn plan to encourage the development of new AI “champions.” 

France, and Paris in particular, has become a European hotbed for artificial intelligence. In June, OpenAI rival Mistral raised €600mn at a €5.8bn valuation. In May, startup Holistic (now known simply as H) secured $200mn in a round that values the company at $370mn. Both startups are based in the City of Light. 

Poolside draws a number of parallels with Mistral in particular, which is also building LLMs that write code. However, Mistral is primarily targeting corporate customers, not developers.