May 15 (Reuters) - Data platform company WekaIO notched

a valuation of $1.6 billion in a round led by Valor Equity

Partners as a funding winter, especially for tech startups

focused on artificial intelligence, is easing.

The company said on Wednesday that it had raised $140

million in an oversubscribed Series E funding round, which

consisted of a combined primary and secondary transaction.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Technology-focused startups have secured a chunk of the

investments following a boom in artificial intelligence-focused

products after the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022.

As the stock markets rally and the appetite for IPOs

returns, startups are also expected to see a resurgence in

interest as private investors seek lucrative exits through these

stock sales.

CONTEXT

Campbell, California-based WekaIO is a technology company

that offers high-performance and scalable file storage for

data-intensive applications. It helps organizations store,

process, and manage data virtually anywhere with the cloud.

The latest funding round saw participation from Nvidia,

Qualcomm Ventures and others.

KEY QUOTE

"The recent acceleration of generative AI and enterprise

cloud adoption has triggered a sharp increase in customer

demand, driving an unprecedented number of eight-figure ARR

deals-an impressive feat when you factor in that WEKA is a

software-based business," said Intekhab Nazeer, chief financial

officer at WEKA.