Modular closes $30 seed round to simplify the process of developing AI systems – TechCrunch

But if you ask the co-founders of Modular, a startup emerging from stealth today, the software used to develop it is "monolithic," fractured into silos piled with layers of complexity. Big Tech companies have made helpful contributions, like TensorFlow and PyTorch -- AI development frameworks maintained by Google and Facebook, respectively. Modular aims to change that. Founded by former Apple and Google engineers and execs, the company today closed a large ($30 million) seed round led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), with participation from Greylock, The Factory and SV Angel to realize its vision of a streamlined, platform-agnostic AI system development platform. "The industry is struggling to maintain and scale fragmented, custom toolchains that differ across research and production, training and deployment, server and edge," Modular CEO Chris Lattner told TechCrunch in an email interview.