All Access

Enterprise Software Deals

Enterprise Software Deals Alerts

Alert

Baseten has acquired Blaxel, a San Francisco-based startup that builds cloud infrastructure and sandboxes for AI agents, CTO Amir Haghighat tells Axios Pro exclusively.

The big picture: Inference continues to be fertile for dealmaking.

How it works: Traditional cloud setups were designed for humans and one-and-done tasks, which does not suit the agentic age. Blaxel's execution infrastructure helps create secure, persistent environments for AI agents to work faster.

The specialized environment allows agents to pause and resume tasks.

Catch up quick: Baseten raised $1.5 billion in June across two tranches valued at $13 billion and $11 billion. Altimeter Capital, Conviction and Spark Capital led the round; Sands Capital and Wellington Management were co-leads.

The AI inference company made its first acquisition last year, buying reinforcement learning startup Parsed.

What's next: Baseten is moving beyond its core inference offering.

The Parsed acquisition has "set the bar very high" for future deals, but the company could look at more deals depending on what customers want and team fit, Haghighat says.  

Flashback: CEO Tuhin Srivastava told Axios Pro earlier this year that the company was "looking very aggressively" for possible deals that can speed up its trajectory to be the "AWS of inference."

Zoom in: Founded in 2024, Blaxel raised $7.3 million in seed funding from First Round, Y Combinator, Liquid 2, Multimodal and others last year.

The 10-person Blaxel team will join Baseten, Blaxel CEO Paul Sinaï tells Axios Pro.

Exclusive: Baseten buys agentic infrastructure startup Blaxel

Blaxel raised $7.3 million in seed funding last year.

Illustration of hundred dollar bills laid over each other forming an upward pointing arrow in the negative space. 

Baseten has acquired Blaxel, a San Francisco-based startup that builds cloud infrastructure and sandboxes for AI agents, CTO Amir Haghighat tells Axios Pro exclusively.The big picture: Inference continues to be fertile for <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="dealmaking" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/all-deals/newsletters/2025/12/12/thought-bubble-inferring-more-m-a" data-vars-content-id="f3dede51-5346-48f0-84c3-ace897a26ea2" data-vars-headline="Exclusive: Baseten buys agentic infrastructure startup Blaxel" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/all-deals/newsletters/2025/12/12/thought-bubble-inferring-more-m-a" target="_self">dealmaking</a>.

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

transportation

business

c-suite

retail-news

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

charlotte

salt-lake-city

denver

fort-lauderdale

cincinnati

scottsdale

boulder

kansas-city

austin

chicago

dallas

detroit

atlanta

indianapolis

nashville

nw-arkansas

columbus

hollywood

washington-dc

north-of-cincy

mesa

richmond

san-francisco

boston

des-moines

houston

phoenix

miami

philadelphia

seattle

new-orleans

colorado-springs

huntsville

raleigh

san-antonio

twin-cities

pittsburgh

san-diego

tampa-bay

portland

cleveland

arapahoe

douglas

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Exclusive: Baseten buys agentic infrastructure startup Blaxel

What to read next