April 22 (Reuters) - VAST Data said on Wednesday it was

valued at $30 billion in its latest funding round, growing more

than threefold since 2023, helped by strong interest in

companies that build the infrastructure needed for artificial

intelligence.

The New York-based company, which is backed by Nvidia ( NVDA ), said

the Series F round fetched it about $1 billion in primary and

secondary capital, and was led by Drive Capital and Access

Industries.

Existing investors, including Fidelity Management & Research

Company, NEA and Nvidia ( NVDA ), also participated in the round, along

with new parties.

The rapid adoption of AI has fueled demand for data centers,

semiconductors, cloud capacity and high-performance computing

needed to train and run increasingly complex models, driving

investor interest in infrastructure providers that support the

ecosystem.

VAST Data, founded in 2016, builds software that helps

companies store and process large volumes of information used to

train and run artificial intelligence systems.

The company, which counts Elon Musk's xAI and CoreWeave ( CRWV )

and the U.S. Air Force, among others, as its customers,

was valued at $9.1 billion in 2023.

"The VAST platform is a key enabling technology for next

gen AI infrastructure initiatives - providing a modern, flexible

data architecture for Gen AI applications and agentic

workflows," said Larry Feinsmith, managing director and head of

Global Tech Strategy, Innovation and Partnerships at JPMorgan

Chase.

Primary proceeds from the latest raise will be used to

expand VAST Data's global footprint, strengthen partnerships and

pursue strategic transactions to broaden its technology

platform.

The company in November signed a $1.17 billion commercial

agreement with cloud provider CoreWeave ( CRWV ), extending their

existing partnership.