Featherless.ai, a Singapore-based open-source AI inference platform, has raised $20 million in Series A funding to expand its global infrastructure and launch a dedicated marketplace for specialised AI models. The round was co-led by AMD Ventures and Airbus Ventures, with participation from Kickstart Ventures, BMW i Ventures, Panache Ventures, and Wavemaker Ventures.

The company positions itself as a neutral alternative to hyperscaler-dominated AI infrastructure. Currently the fastest-growing inference partner on Hugging Face, Featherless.ai supports over 30,000 open models spanning language, vision, and audio applications. Its infrastructure is hosted in the EU and the US, with a team distributed across Canada, Europe, the US, Singapore, and Australia.

Building AI infrastructure enterprises can own

The funding will be used to scale global infrastructure, deepen hardware integration across diverse architectures, and reduce the cost of AI inference. A central element of the strategy is a technical partnership with AMD, ensuring that widely used open-source models run natively on AMD’s ROCm platform — offering enterprises an auditable, cost-competitive alternative to proprietary compute environments.

“When a few dominant players control the entire stack, it stifles competition and limits what developers can imagine. We’re building the infrastructure that makes open-source AI practical and reliable at scale, ensuring that enterprises can build on a foundation they own rather than one they merely rent.” — Eugene Cheah, CEO and co-founder, Featherless.ai

The company’s founding team created RWKV, an open-source model architecture developed as an alternative to the transformer-dominant paradigm. Featherless.ai describes its platform as a neutral layer for AI — unaligned with any hyperscaler, chipmaker, or proprietary ecosystem.

Southeast Asia angle

The participation of Kickstart Ventures, the corporate venture arm of a leading Southeast Asian telco group, underscores regional interest in sovereign AI infrastructure. Joan Yao, General Partner at Kickstart Ventures, noted that the platform’s cost structure is particularly relevant for the next wave of AI-native builders in markets like Southeast Asia, where hyperscaler pricing creates a structural barrier to entry.

Featherless.ai plans to launch a marketplace for specialised open models as part of its post-funding roadmap, targeting enterprises seeking to deploy AI without dependence on closed ecosystems.