GoKawiilBetaworks' early bet on Hugging Face nets stake worth up to $650 million
Betaworks, the venture firm led by John Borthwick, was the first investor to fund AI startup Hugging Face and now holds an equity stake estimated at roughly $650 million. Other early backers of the company also saw substantial gains from their initial investments.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The outcome underscores how early conviction in AI infrastructure startups can yield outsized returns for seed-stage investors, reinforcing venture capital's continued appetite for AI bets. It also highlights Hugging Face's rise from a niche open-source platform to one of the most valuable companies in the AI tooling ecosystem.
- Betaworks made the first investment in Hugging Face and now owns a stake worth an estimated $650 million.
- Other early investors in Hugging Face also realized significant returns.
- The deal illustrates the scale of value creation among early AI infrastructure bets.
Source: wsj.com, 2026-09-04
Published there as: “Betaworks Scores With Hugging Face Deal”
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