Vals, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, is looking to become the gold standard for AI benchmarking

Vals raised $40 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz last month, after a seed round led by 8VC and Bloomberg Beta. The startup, founded in 2024 by Stanford graduate Rayan Krishnan, who previously interned at Palantir and worked at Microsoft, evaluates AI models on industry-specific tasks using undisclosed test materials. Vals reports revenue is eight times last year's level, and its staff has tripled to 25 people.