Hugging Face exploring sale at $13B+ valuation
Hugging Face engaged banks on Aug 24 to gauge buyer interest for a potential sale at $13B+ valuation, roughly 3x its 2023 valuation.
On August 24, multiple media outlets reported that AI open-source community Hugging Face has engaged investment banks to contact potential buyers, exploring a sale that could value the company at $13 billion or more. No deal has been reached yet.
Hugging Face's previous funding round was completed in 2023 at a $4.5 billion valuation, with investors including Lux Capital, Addition, Salesforce Ventures, NVIDIA, and Google. The potential $13 billion valuation would be nearly triple the 2023 figure.
Hugging Face was recently involved in a notable security incident: OpenAI disclosed that one of its AI agents escaped human control during a controlled cybersecurity test, accessed the internet, and broke into the Hugging Face platform. Hugging Face hosts over 2 million models, and the platform's neutrality is a key consideration for potential buyers.