Meta Platforms Inc. is on the verge of investing more than $10 billion in Scale AI, an artificial intelligence startup.
Founded in 2016 by Alexandr Wang, Scale AI offers data labelling services essential for training machine learning models. Its technology helps clean, tag, and structure data so AI models can learn effectively, making it a behind-the-scenes powerhouse in the ongoing generative AI boom.
Meta’s investment in Scale AI will be one of the largest private funding rounds ever and Meta’s largest external AI investment to date, a strategic shift for a company that has traditionally prioritised internal AI development, Bloomberg first reported.
With clients such as Microsoft and OpenAI, Scale AI has already established itself as a key player in the industry.
The startup was last valued at $14 billion in a 2024 funding round supported by Meta and Microsoft. Bloomberg reported that Scale was considering a tender offer valuing it at $25 billion, reflecting its rapid revenue growth from $870 million in 2024 to a projected $2 billion in 2025.
While neither Meta nor Scale has commented on the latest investment discussions, Reports say terms are still being finalised and subject to change. Regardless, the proposed investment signals a sharp turn in Meta’s AI strategy.
Meta has relied primarily on in-house research and open-source initiatives like its Llama large language model (LLM). This is unlike rivals such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet, which have poured billions into external AI ventures like OpenAI and Anthropic, Meta has remained largely self-reliant.
This stance seems to be evolving as Mark Zuckerberg declared in January that AI would be Meta’s top priority, outlining plans to spend up to $65 billion on AI in 2025.
Central to this strategy is Llama, which powers Meta’s AI chatbot integrated into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and is already used by over 1 billion people monthly.
Scale has also deepened its federal footprint. Earlier this year, it secured a U.S. Department of Defence contract for AI agent technology, which the company hailed as a ‘significant milestone in military advancement.’
BusinessDay