Privacy-focused artificial intelligence startup webAI Inc. has reportedly closed on an early-stage “high double-digit” round of funding that sends its value soaring to $2.5 billion, according to a report in Axios.

Participants in the Series A extension round included Marc Benioff’s Time Ventures, Atreides Management, existing investor Forerunner Ventures and others.

WebAI is the creator of an AI development platform that enables enterprises to build so-called “sovereign” AI models on localized infrastructure as a more private alternative to hosting them in the cloud. Its AI systems are designed to run locally on user’s devices, which means they don’t have to send sensitive data to cloud-hosted servers. That makes them more secure and also more responsive because the latency is reduced significantly.

The startup’s approach notably affects the economics of AI deployment, helping companies to reduce the costs of AI compute drastically, because local resources are far cheaper than cloud-based processing. The result is that webAI’s model is fundamentally disrupting how and where AI can be used and accessed.

Last year, the company made headlines when it debuted an AI assistant application called Companion. Aimed at businesses, the Companion app can be customized to support almost any kind of enterprise workload while running locally on employee’s devices. Users can enhance its knowledge by feeding it with corporate data, with the reassurance that none of that information will ever leave the device itself.

According to Axios, webAI claims that its platform has already seen solid adoption in industries ranging from retail to logistics and aviation. It said its models are being used to monitor store traffic, optimize supply chain workflows and improve airport gate performance, enhancing business productivity without causing privacy headaches. One of its biggest customers is the Finnish healthcare technology startup Oura Health Ltd., maker of the Oura smart ring that’s used to track wearer’s sleep patterns and fitness activity.

The exact amount raised today was not disclosed, but webAI Chief Executive David Stout told Axios that the money will be used to democratize access to AI and “drive innovation in the distributed AI field.” The company is also gearing up to launch its first consumer-facing application. “We want AI to run as close to where data is generated as possible, without having to rely on the cloud or a Wi-Fi connection,” Stout explained.

The announcement comes just four months after webAI raised $60 million in its Series A round of funding, but the company is far from done, with Axios reporting that it’s already engaged with new investors over an even larger Series B round that could close as early as the next quarter.

Image: webAI