Vals AI raises $40 million at $400 million valuation in a16z-led round

AI evaluation startup Vals AI has secured $40 million in a Series A round valuing the company at $400 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Today we're announcing our $40M Series A at a $400M valuation, led by @a16z , with participation from existing investors @8vc, @pearvc, and @BloombergBeta and new investors @HRTVentures and @nextladder.

Alongside the fundraise, three more announcements:

– Vals Smith: is now… pic.twitter.com/kdsh13B33j

— Vals AI (@ValsAI) August 13, 2026

The round was also backed by existing investors 8VC, Pear VC and Bloomberg Beta, as well as new investors like HRT Ventures and Next Ladder. 

The company says its revenue has grown eightfold compared with all of 2025, while its customer base doubled and its team tripled over the past six months.

Vals AI said the funding will support its efforts to build independent benchmarks for measuring AI models across professional tasks, arguing that model development is advancing faster than the industry’s ability to create reliable new tests. Its evaluations have been cited in model cards from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and xAI, while enterprise customers use them to compare models and assess AI deployments.

Alongside the funding, Vals launched Vals Smith, a tool that lets users create custom coding benchmarks from GitHub repositories; new frontier-risk benchmarks covering areas including cyber, mental health and AI safety; and Vals Index 2.0, which expands its coverage of the broader economy.