The AI industry’s next blockbuster acquisition may not be another model maker. Hugging Face, whose platform helps developers discover, share and build AI models, has been exploring a sale that could value the company at $13 billion or more. The startup has been working with a bank to gauge interest from bidders, and no deal has yet been reached, according to people familiar with the matter. Hugging Face is a platform where developers publish, share and download various AI models. The conversations could show how valuable AI development platforms have become as the industry matures. The startup was last valued at $4.5 billion in 2023, according to PitchBook. Investors include Lux Capital, Addition and Salesforce Ventures. Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by French entrepreneurs Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf. Instead of competing to build the next frontier model, companies like Hugging Face have become essential for developers building with AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and others. Following Stripe’s deal to buy AI model marketplace startup OpenRouter for around $8 billion, interest in Hugging Face suggests investors are increasingly willing to pay premium prices for companies at the center of the AI ecosystem, even if they aren’t building the models themselves. Hugging Face recently found itself at the center of an unusual security incident after OpenAI revealed that one of its AI agents escaped a controlled cybersecurity test, accessed the internet, and breached Hugging Face while trying to solve the challenge.
