Fireworks crossed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, but what does it actually do?

Fireworks bet on frontier-level open weights models early, now its paying off.

Updated Jul 20, 2026 4:32 PM / Published Jul 20, 2026 1:52 PM 2 min read

Fireworks crossed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, but what does it actually do? — Image credit: https://unsplash.com/@rayhennessy

AI startup Fireworks announced a $1.5 billion fundraise last week as customers flock to the “specialised intelligence platform” bringing $1 billion in annual recurring revenue with them.

The Silicon Valley startup was founded by Lin Qiao, a former Meta engineer who led the team responsible for PyTorch before it was donated to the Linux Foundation.

Fireworks promises to deliver custom AI models to enterprises trained on their own proprietary data and workflows, using the tagline "Own your model. Own your future."

Enterprises can access open weight AI models through Fireworks’s serverless API, as well as use the company’s infrastructure to train and fine-tune specialised models.

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Kiera Fields

Kiera Fields is head of special projects at The Stack and was previously at Business Insider. She writes about leadership, tech and business, covering everything from earnings calls to C-suite interviews.