Together AI just raised $800M because your closed-model AI contract is a liability

Open-source AI model usage tripled in the last year.

Together AI just closed an $800M Series C at $8.3B valuation.

Up from $3.3B sixteen months ago.

Annual bookings hit $1.15 billion.

Nvidia invested alongside Aramco Ventures, Vista Equity, General Catalyst, and Salesforce Ventures.

Here's what your CFO needs to hear: Together AI's entire business is built on one premise — running open-source models cheaper than paying per token to closed-model providers.

That premise just got $800M in validation.

If you're locked into per-token API contracts with OpenAI or Anthropic, you're paying for a convenience premium that's about to erode. Open-source inference platforms now claim 2x the performance of alternatives at a fraction of the cost.

The enterprises winning the AI cost war aren't building bigger models. They're running cheaper ones.

Audit your AI vendor contracts this week.

Get a parallel quote from an open-source inference provider.

The gap between your per-token spend and open-source inference costs is now large enough to fund your entire AI workforce transition.