Founded in 2024, the AI benchmarking startup Vals recently secured $40 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. This follows a seed round previously led by 8VC and Bloomberg Beta. The company, based in San Francisco, aims to provide more accurate performance evaluations for modern AI models.
Co-founded by 25-year-old Rayan Krishnan, Vals differentiates itself by using private, non-public test materials to prevent companies from training models specifically to pass benchmarks. The platform evaluates AI performance in complex domains such as law, finance, coding, cybersecurity, and biosecurity, rather than relying on abstract general knowledge tests.
The startup reports that its revenue has grown eightfold compared to the previous year. The team has expanded from eight employees at the start of 2026 to 25 staff members, with plans to hire an additional 10 to 15 people and move to a larger office space. Vals has also launched a program to provide model evaluations for federal agencies.
Vals operates on a business model where companies pay for model testing to troubleshoot and improve their technology. Krishnan believes these evaluations will become essential for companies preparing for public offerings, as they provide a standardized way to demonstrate model capabilities and build public trust in AI integration.
