# Poolside revenue, valuation & funding

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/companies/poolside/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

Poolside was valued at $12B before Nvidia's $1B investment, reported in August 2026. No revenue figure has been reported. It's a private company with no ticker and no stated IPO plan.

Checked Nov 8, 2026

## At a glance

- Valuation: $12B before Nvidia's $1B investment, reported in August 2026.
- Revenue: not reported. Poolside publishes no results.
- Status: private. No stock ticker and no stated IPO plan.
- Founded: 2023, by Eiso Kant and Jason Warner.
- CEO: [Jason Warner](https://realalpha.app/builders/jason-warner/) and Eiso Kant, its co-founders, lead it as co-CEOs.
- Investors: Nvidia, Bain Capital Ventures, DST Global, StepStone Group, Citi Ventures and eBay Ventures, among others.
- Products: the Laguna family of open-weight models for agentic coding, including Laguna S 2.1 and Laguna XS 2.1.
- Headquarters: San Francisco, with a branch in Paris. It had 150 employees in December 2025.

## Is Poolside public? Can you buy its stock?

No. Poolside is a private company. Its shares don't trade on any stock exchange, and it has no ticker symbol.

Its executives haven't said when or whether it will go public, and no IPO filing has been reported.

In August 2026 Nvidia agreed to invest $1B at a $12B pre-money valuation, [PYMNTS reported](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/nvidia-pays-6-billion-to-license-poolside-ai-model-development-software/). The deal is not an acquisition, and Poolside stays independent.

Its shares are held by its founders, staff and investors, including Nvidia and Bain Capital Ventures. This page reports facts and gives no investment advice.

## Valuation, round by round

Nvidia's August 2026 deal valued Poolside at $12B before the new money, below the $14B reported for a round in talks in December 2025.

- Aug 2026 · $12B · $1B · Nvidia · [PYMNTS](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/nvidia-pays-6-billion-to-license-poolside-ai-model-development-software/)
- Dec 2025 · $14B · In talks · Nvidia · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)
- Oct 2024 · — · $500M · Bain Capital Ventures · [Poolside press release (PRWeb)](https://www.prweb.com/releases/poolside-closes-500-million-series-b-to-build-the-worlds-most-capable-ai-for-software-development-302265263.html)

Sacra puts the October 2024 Series B at about $3B, but no primary report confirms that figure. Bloomberg first reported the $2B round in talks in October 2025 at $12B, and no close of it has been reported.

## How Poolside makes money

Poolside sells its models to companies and government groups. [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/poolside/) says its revenue comes from enterprise contracts that bundle the models with professional services.

- **Licensing.** Nvidia will pay $6B to license Poolside's Model Factory software, as reported in August 2026. Nvidia will also offer jobs to 109 Poolside employees. · [PYMNTS](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/nvidia-pays-6-billion-to-license-poolside-ai-model-development-software/)
- **Through AWS.** A partnership announced in December 2024 makes its models available on Amazon Bedrock as a managed deployment option. · [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/poolside/)

## Products

Poolside builds open-weight models for agentic coding. Its [models page](https://poolside.ai) lists two current models, Laguna S 2.1 and Laguna XS 2.1. The company says it ships new models about every five weeks.

Laguna S 2.1 is released under the OpenMDW license, according to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poolside_AI).

- **Laguna S 2.1** (July 21, 2026). A 118B-parameter open-weight model for agentic coding with a 1M-token context. · [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/poolside-laguna-s-2-1-open-weight-coding-model)
- **Laguna XS 2.1.** A 33B-parameter open-weight model with a 256K context. · [Poolside](https://poolside.ai)
- **Laguna M.1 and Laguna XS.2** (April 28, 2026). The first two Laguna models, released with the runtime Poolside uses to train and operate agents. · [Poolside](https://poolside.ai)
- **Desktop Assistant** (July 28, 2026). A report says Poolside launched an assistant for coding agents on macOS, VS Code and Visual Studio. · [Tech Insider](https://tech-insider.org/poolside-ai-project-horizon-coreweave-2gw-texas-collapse-2026/)

## Customers

Poolside hasn't published a user or customer count. Its named customers are in government and defense.

- **Regulated organizations.** The company said in July 2026 that it serves government, defense and other regulated groups through its API and agent harness. · [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/poolside-laguna-s-2-1-open-weight-coding-model)
- **Raytheon and the US Department of Defense** have signed contracts with Poolside, Globes reported in December 2025. It began serving RTX Corporation through an Amazon platform in the first quarter of 2025. · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)

## Leadership

Poolside's three co-founders will stay with the company under the Nvidia deal, [PYMNTS reported](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/nvidia-pays-6-billion-to-license-poolside-ai-model-development-software/) in August 2026.

- **[Jason Warner](https://realalpha.app/builders/jason-warner/),** co-founder and co-CEO. He was CTO of GitHub, and a July 2025 company release names him CEO. · [Poolside newsroom](https://poolside.ai/newsroom/philip-drury-joins-poolside-as-chief-investment-officer)
- **[Eiso Kant](https://realalpha.app/builders/eiso-kant/),** co-founder and co-CEO. He led source{d} and Athenian before Poolside.
- **Philip Drury,** its first chief investment officer, from July 2025. He headed Global Technology, Media and Communications Banking at Citigroup. · [Poolside newsroom](https://poolside.ai/newsroom/philip-drury-joins-poolside-as-chief-investment-officer)
- **Tzachi Cohen,** head of inference, hired after roles at AMD and Habana Labs (reported December 2025). · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)

## Who owns Poolside?

Its founders, staff and investors. As a private company it doesn't publish who holds what, and no stake has been disclosed.

[Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/poolside/) estimates it had raised about $626M in total as of 2025, before the Nvidia investment.

- **[Nvidia](https://realalpha.app/companies/#nvidia)** holds a direct stake through its August 2026 investment. The deal is not an acquisition, so Poolside has no parent company. · [Dealroom](https://dealroom.co/news/146210-poolside-ais-6b-nvidia-licensing-deal-reshapes-the-model-building-race/)
- **Bain Capital Ventures** led the $500M Series B, which closed in October 2024. · [Poolside press release (PRWeb)](https://www.prweb.com/releases/poolside-closes-500-million-series-b-to-build-the-worlds-most-capable-ai-for-software-development-302265263.html)
- **DST Global, StepStone Group, Citi Ventures and eBay Ventures** joined that Series B, along with Nvidia. · [Poolside press release (PRWeb)](https://www.prweb.com/releases/poolside-closes-500-million-series-b-to-build-the-worlds-most-capable-ai-for-software-development-302265263.html)

## Competitors

[Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271) says Poolside competes with model labs and with coding products built on existing models. Poolside pitched Laguna S 2.1 against Chinese open-weight labs.

- **[OpenAI](https://realalpha.app/companies/openai/),** one of the model labs Globes names. · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)
- **[Anthropic](https://realalpha.app/companies/anthropic/),** another lab on Globes' list. · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)
- **[Google](https://realalpha.app/companies/#google-deepmind),** the third lab Globes names. · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)
- **[Cognition](https://realalpha.app/companies/cognition/),** with Corsair. Globes also lists Windsurf and GitHub Copilot as coding products Poolside competes with. · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)
- **[DeepSeek](https://realalpha.app/companies/deepseek/),** whose open-weight models Laguna S 2.1 was compared with on coding benchmarks. Nvidia's models were in the same comparison. · [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/poolside-laguna-s-2-1-open-weight-coding-model)
- **[Thinking Machines](https://realalpha.app/companies/thinking-machines/),** also in that benchmark comparison. · [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/poolside-laguna-s-2-1-open-weight-coding-model)
- **[Moonshot AI](https://realalpha.app/companies/moonshot-ai/),** maker of Kimi. Poolside pitched Laguna S 2.1 against it and Alibaba's Qwen. · [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/poolside-laguna-s-2-1-open-weight-coding-model)

## Timeline and latest news

- Aug 21, 2026 · Nvidia agreed to invest $1B at a $12B pre-money valuation. · [PYMNTS](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/nvidia-pays-6-billion-to-license-poolside-ai-model-development-software/)
- Aug 21, 2026 · Nvidia agreed to pay $6B to license its Model Factory software and offer jobs to 109 staff. · [PYMNTS](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/nvidia-pays-6-billion-to-license-poolside-ai-model-development-software/)
- Jul 28, 2026 · A report says it launched a Desktop Assistant for coding agents. · [Tech Insider](https://tech-insider.org/poolside-ai-project-horizon-coreweave-2gw-texas-collapse-2026/)
- Jul 21, 2026 · Released Laguna S 2.1, a 118B open-weight coding model. · [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/poolside-laguna-s-2-1-open-weight-coding-model)
- Apr 28, 2026 · Released its first Laguna models, Laguna M.1 and Laguna XS.2, with its agent runtime. · [Poolside](https://poolside.ai)
- Dec 15, 2025 · Globes reported a $2B round led by Nvidia in talks at a $14B valuation. · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)
- Dec 15, 2025 · Hired Tzachi Cohen, formerly of AMD and Habana Labs, to head inference. · [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271)
- Oct 30, 2025 · Bloomberg reported Nvidia might invest up to $1B in a $2B round at a $12B valuation. · [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/30/nvidia-is-reportedly-investing-up-to-1-billion-in-poolside)
- Oct 15, 2025 · Agreed with CoreWeave to develop Project Horizon, a 2GW data center in Texas. · [DatacenterDynamics](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/poolside-seeks-partners-for-data-center-in-texas-after-coreweave-deal-falls-apart/)
- Jul 28, 2025 · Philip Drury joined as its first chief investment officer. · [Poolside newsroom](https://poolside.ai/newsroom/philip-drury-joins-poolside-as-chief-investment-officer)
- Dec 2024 · Its models became available through Amazon Bedrock. · [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/poolside/)
- Oct 2, 2024 · Closed a $500M Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures. · [Poolside press release (PRWeb)](https://www.prweb.com/releases/poolside-closes-500-million-series-b-to-build-the-worlds-most-capable-ai-for-software-development-302265263.html)

## Questions people ask

### Is Poolside a public company? Can I buy Poolside stock?

No. Poolside is private and has no ticker, so its shares aren't sold on any exchange.

### When will Poolside IPO?

It hasn't announced a plan to go public, and no IPO filing has been reported.

### Who owns Poolside?

Its founders, staff and investors, including Nvidia, Bain Capital Ventures, DST Global and StepStone Group. Nvidia's 2026 deal left it independent.

### Who is the CEO of Poolside?

[Jason Warner](https://realalpha.app/builders/jason-warner/) and Eiso Kant lead it as co-CEOs. Warner was GitHub's CTO.

### Who founded Poolside?

Eiso Kant and Jason Warner, in 2023.

### How much is Poolside worth?

$12B before Nvidia's $1B investment, as [PYMNTS reported](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/nvidia-pays-6-billion-to-license-poolside-ai-model-development-software/) in August 2026.

### How much revenue does Poolside make?

Poolside hasn't published revenue, and no figure has been reported.

### How does Poolside make money?

Through enterprise contracts that bundle its models with professional services, [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/poolside/) says. Nvidia also agreed in August 2026 to pay $6B to license its Model Factory software.

### Who are Poolside's customers?

Government, defense and other regulated organizations. It has contracts with Raytheon and the US Department of Defense, [Globes](https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-poolside-ai-targets-israels-defense-sector-1001529271) reported.

### Who are Poolside's competitors?

Model labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, coding products like Cognition's Corsair and GitHub Copilot, and open-weight labs such as DeepSeek.

## People on Real Alpha

- [Jason Warner](https://realalpha.app/builders/jason-warner/), Co-founder & co-CEO, Poolside
- [Eiso Kant](https://realalpha.app/builders/eiso-kant/), Co-founder & co-CEO, Poolside

## How this page is sourced

Each figure links to the filing, company statement or news report it came from, with its date. Run rates are what reporters were told, not audited results; estimates and unconfirmed reports are marked. Quotes are what each person said on the record, with the minute they said it.