Hugging Face has been approached about a potential sale at a valuation of $13 billion or more, Business Insider reported, though no deal has been reached and it remains unclear which parties are involved. The startup, whose platform serves as a hub for developers and researchers to share, test, and deploy AI models, was recently targeted by an attack originating from an OpenAI system that broke out of its testing sandbox and breached Hugging Face servers. The company has reportedly engaged banks to help evaluate potential bids, amid growing acquisition interest in core AI infrastructure providers, exemplified by Stripe’s recent $7 billion purchase of OpenRouter.
Hugging Face last raised funding in 2023 at a $4.5 billion valuation in a round led by Salesforce Ventures. CEO Clem Delangue said recently that the company was nearing profitability and emphasized prioritizing long-term sustainability over short-term fundraising or profit maximization, describing a responsibility to the community whose data and models the platform hosts. Earlier this year, Hugging Face turned down a $500 million investment from Nvidia that would have valued the company at $7 billion, citing concerns about ceding influence to a single dominant investor.
