Hugging Face, recognized as a driving force in AI, has strategically acquired XetHub, a platform renowned for its collaborative tools that facilitate the creation of large AI models. The acquisition, detailed exclusively to Forbes, marks a significant step for the $4.5 billion company as it prepares to scale up its capabilities to handle a growing number of complex AI models.
Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue shared that the acquisition is in line with their vision of simplifying AI development to match the efficiency of traditional software engineering. “Our goal is to dramatically increase speed,” Delangue emphasized during the interview. While exact financial terms were not disclosed, he indicated that this was the company’s largest acquisition to date, surpassing their previous acquisition of Argilla, a dataset startup, for $10 million.
XetHub’s platform, which will soon be integrated into Hugging Face’s offerings, is designed to support rapid iteration on large data sets, allowing developers to efficiently manage and document changes without the cumbersome need to frequently upload or download large volumes of data. Founded in Seattle and backed by $7.5 million in its seed funding round led by Madrona, XetHub has been instrumental in providing services to major enterprise customers like Tableau.
XetHub CEO Yucheng Low noted that the platform’s integration with Hugging Face will increase efficiency with larger datasets and user bases. The improvements expected from this acquisition will allow Hugging Face to potentially handle hundreds of millions of AI models and datasets within five years, a substantial increase from the current 2.5 million.
The move comes amid significant consolidation in the AI industry, with several other companies engaged in significant mergers and acquisitions. Delangue commented on the trend, suggesting it reflects a maturing market and stressed the importance of maintaining independent entities to balance the influence of major tech companies.
With the addition of approximately 16 XetHub employees, who have strong backgrounds at companies like Apple, Hugging Face is not only expanding its technical prowess but also strengthening its position in the competitive AI landscape. Delangue proudly pointed to the company’s profitability and operational efficiency, which he said sets it apart from other AI startups struggling with financial sustainability.
