South African-Born Cerebrium raises $8.5M to simplify multimodal AI deployment

With a lean team and a serverless approach, Cerebrium is helping developers deploy AI applications at scale, all while showing the global potential of African tech talent.

Cerebrium, a startup founded by South Africans Michael Louis and Jonathan Irwin, has raised $8.5 million in seed funding to scale its AI infrastructure platform. The round was led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused venture fund, with participation from Y Combinator and Authentic Ventures.

Now headquartered in New York, Cerebrium was originally founded in Cape Town and is gaining attention for its serverless infrastructure tailored for multimodal AI , allowing developers to run AI applications that process not only text, but also images, video, and audio in real time.

According to Innovation Village, the startup’s core innovation lies in offering on-demand CPU and GPU provisioning, enabling clients to pay only for what they use. This approach significantly reduces the cost and complexity for companies deploying high-performance AI models, especially for use cases like real-time avatars, virtual assistants, and healthcare diagnostics.

“Specialized infrastructure that scales elastically will be essential as real-time AI becomes core to customer experiences,” said Eylul Kayin, partner at Gradient Ventures.

Despite having just four engineers, Cerebrium is already generating millions in ARR, with clients such as Tavus and Deepgram relying on its platform for high-volume AI workloads. The new capital will help expand the team, accelerate feature development, and support growth in the U.S. market.

CEO Michael Louis, who previously founded OneCart (acquired by Walmart’s Massmart), came up with the idea for Cerebrium after struggling with machine learning infrastructure during his last venture. That frustration led to the creation of a platform designed to make powerful AI more accessible and scalable.

“Our mission is to empower developers to create AI solutions that are not only powerful but also easy to deploy and scale,” said Louis.

Cerebrium’s success also highlights the increasing global relevance of African-founded startups, particularly in advanced tech segments like AI. The company joins a growing number of players reshaping the infrastructure layer behind today’s AI boom.

In 2024 alone, AI startups globally raised more than $84 billion, driven by the adoption of tools like ChatGPT and the rise of agentic AI platforms such as StackAI and Artisan. But while many competitors focus on building AI agents or apps, Cerebrium is betting that simplifying the infrastructure layer will be the key to unlocking broader adoption.

As interest in AI continues to soar, Cerebrium is carving out its space by making complex AI backends plug-and-play, and in the process, showing that world-class tech can be built from anywhere.