Custom "Specific Intelligence" agents and open-model fine-tuning trained on an enterprise’s own data.
Applied Compute is an enterprise AI startup founded in 2025 by three former OpenAI researchers — CEO Yash Patil (Codex), Rhythm Garg (o1 reasoning) and Linden Li (training infrastructure). It builds what it calls "Specific Intelligence": agents and fine-tuned open-weight models trained on a customer’s own operational data, with engineers embedded alongside enterprise teams. Customers include DoorDash (menu generation), NVIDIA (post-training of the Nemotron open-weight models), Microsoft, Cognition and Mercor. It emerged from stealth in October 2025 with an $80M round led by Benchmark, became a unicorn in April 2026 with an $80M Series B at a $1.3B post led by Kleiner Perkins, and by September 2026 was reported to be raising $350M at roughly $3.25B on about $50M of annualized revenue.
AI📍 San Francisco, CAFounded 2025
Current Valuation
$1.3B
as of 2026-Q2
UNICORN
QL Price
$2.5B
-17% vs last round
QuantLogix's current estimate for Applied Compute, published 2026-09-21 — below the last disclosed round of $3.0B (2026-09).
Confidence
medium
Basis
comps led
What backs this price
Last disclosed round
$3.0B
2026-09
weight 0.96
Public-company comparables
$697.25M
2026-Q3
weight 0.27
How this price has held up
No round has priced for Applied Compute since QuantLogix began publishing a price for it, so there is nothing to grade yet. The claim above is on the record from 2026-09-21 and will be graded against the next priced round. See the full accuracy record →
Which publicly-traded funds already hold it, what $10,000 buys, and whether any route is open to you.
Cite this price as QuantLogix QL Price, Applied Compute, 2026-09-21 (12a6d35057d1b869).
The id pins this exact claim, so a citation stays checkable after the price moves.
Model estimate for research — not a quote, target price, or investment advice.
IPO Outlookprivate
Is Applied Compute going public?
No. Applied Compute is private and has not filed to go public. There is no S-1 on file.
What is Applied Compute's valuation in 2026?
Applied Compute is valued at $1.3B as of 2026-Q2, set by its Series B ($80M, Apr 2026). That is the last confirmed mark, not a live price — private shares do not trade continuously.
Has Applied Compute filed an S-1?
No public S-1 is on file for Applied Compute.
Who are Applied Compute's investors?
Applied Compute's investors include Benchmark, Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks, Conviction and 6 more.
Can you buy Applied Compute stock?
No. Applied Compute is a private company — its shares are not listed on any exchange and there is no ticker. The routes to exposure are pre-IPO secondary marketplaces and funds (accredited investors), employee tender offers when the company runs one, and public companies with read-through exposure. QuantLogix maps every route it can verify for Applied Compute on its Pre-IPO Access Desk.
Answers are derived from the roster record shown on this page — filing status, last round and confirmed marks. Where the record is silent, the answer says so rather than guessing.
Company Profile
CEO
Yash Patil
Founded
2025
HQ
San Francisco, CA
Total Raised
$160M
Est. Revenue
$50M (2026-Q3)
Growth
~$50M annualized revenue roughly 15 months after founding; reported valuation path ~$700M (Oct 2025) to $1.3B (Apr 2026), with a ~$3.25B round reported in progress.
Last Round
Series B — $80M (Apr 2026) · Lead: Kleiner Perkins
IPO Status
private
Fundraising Status
Series B · $80M · 5 mo ago
privateTotal raised $160M3 disclosed rounds
Series B Impact
Round Size
$80M
Primary financing announced
Post-Money Valuation
$1.3B
Company-announced mark
Valuation Step-Up
+85.7%
vs Series A at $700M
Round / Post-Money
6.2%
New capital ÷ post-money
Disclosed Funding
$160M
Cumulative disclosed rounds
Step-up compares disclosed post-money valuations. Round / post-money is a financing-size ratio, not an ownership or dilution estimate.
Growth & Valuation
Valuation across funding rounds
Capital raised per round
Charts built from publicly disclosed funding rounds and revenue estimates. Approximate, not real-time, not investment advice.
Funding History
Round
Amount
Date
Lead Investor
Post-Money
Series B
$80M
Apr 2026
Kleiner Perkins
$1.3B
Series A
$80M
Oct 2025
Benchmark
$700M
Seed
$20M
Jun 2025
Sequoia Capital
—
Vertical Intelligence — AI / ML
Open models
0
verified organization
Downloads (30d)
0
across all models
Followers
44
Attributed to Hugging Face organization "Applied Compute" as of 2026-09-18. Open-weights footprint only — closed-model usage is not publicly measurable. Verify on Hugging Face ↗
Talent Signal
Hiring trend
▶ Hiring steady
+5% vs 2026-08
Open roles
289
via ashby
Product-build share
76%
engineering, research, product, design
Trajectory
steady
heavy product build — 76% of open roles are product-building functions (engineering/research/product) — 142 of 289 open roles are engineering.
Counted from Applied Compute's live job board as of 2026-09-16; role functions classified from posting titles. Open-role counts are an activity signal, not headcount. Refreshed monthly.
Founders & Key People
Yash PatilRhythm GargLinden Li
Investors
Benchmark · Sequoia Capital · Lux Capital · Kleiner Perkins · Greenoaks · Conviction · Neo · Hanabi Ventures · Definition Capital · Elad Gil · Victor Lazarte · Omri Casspi
Products
Specific Intelligence — custom enterprise AI agents
Open-model and open-weight fine-tuning / post-training
Reinforcement-learning environments on customer data
Competitors
OpenAI · Anthropic · Sierra · Fireworks AI · Together AI
Private-company numbers are not real-time. Reflects publicly disclosed valuations from press releases, news reports, and tender offers as of 2026-Q2. Refreshed quarterly.