Nvidia seals $800M acquisition of Run:ai with US DOJ approval
Nvidia seals $800M acquisition of Run:ai with US DOJ approval
After regulatory scrutiny in the US and Europe, the acquisition positions Nvidia to expand its AI capabilities while allowing Run:ai to maintain its independence and open-source platform.
Nvidia announced on Monday that it has completed the acquisition of the Israeli artificial intelligence company Run:ai. The deal was completed after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) approved the acquisition, which underwent a regulatory approval process since being announced in April, including an examination by the DOJ and the European Union. Last week, the European Commission said it had unconditionally approved the deal, stating that it would not raise competition concerns. While the parties did not disclose the purchase price, it is estimated at approximately $800 million, $100M higher than the previous estimate.
Of the total acquisition value, $200 million has been allocated to retain Run:ai’s team, paid in Nvidia shares. When the deal was initially announced in April, this component of the transaction was valued at approximately $100 million. However, Nvidia’s stock price surged significantly between the in-principle agreement and the deal’s completion, doubling the value of the stock-based payouts.
According to a blog post by the company’s founders, Omri Geller and Dr. Ronen Dar, they plan to significantly expand Run:ai’s presence in Israel while maintaining its operational independence. This independence will allow the company to continue collaborating with other industry players—a key factor that initially caused regulatory concerns regarding Nvidia’s dominance in the AI infrastructure market.
“We are thrilled to officially join the NVIDIA team. This marks the conclusion of one extraordinary chapter in Run:ai's journey and the beginning of an exciting new one in a new home,” the co-founders wrote. “As part of NVIDIA, we are eager to build on the achievements we’ve obtained until now, expand our talented team, and grow our product and market reach. While our colors will change from pink to green, our commitment to our customers, partners, and the broader AI ecosystem remains unwavering.”
Run:ai was founded in 2018 by Geller, the company’s CEO, who previously worked in the technology unit at the Prime Minister’s Office, and Dr. Dar, a former researcher at Bell Labs and an algorithm engineer at Anobit, which was acquired by Apple in 2012. Since its inception, the company has raised $118 million. Their first investor is Rona Segev of TLV Partners who led the Seed round and later on joined by S Capital fund, led by Aya Peterburg and Haim Sadger. Additional investors include Tiger Global, and Insight Partners.
The purchase of Run:ai is Nvidia’s biggest acquisition in Israel since buying Mellanox for $6.9 billion in March 2019. Since the acquisition, Nvidia’s local R&D center in Israel, which was first established in 2016, has grown to over 4,000 employees.
Even before the acquisition, Run:ai had an existing partnership with chip giant Nvidia. The company developed an operating system for Nvidia’s new artificial intelligence processors, based on advanced virtualization technologies. This technology allows customers to maximize the output from the chips, a service especially sought after in light of the growing demand for chips, which has already outpaced supply.
“True to our open-platform philosophy, as part of NVIDIA, we will keep empowering AI teams with the freedom to choose the tools, platforms, and frameworks that best suit their needs. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships and work alongside the ecosystem to deliver a wide variety of AI solutions and platform choices,” the Run:ai co-founders added. “In addition, we plan to open source the Run:ai software to help the community build better AI, faster. While Run:ai currently supports only NVIDIA GPUs, open sourcing the software will enable it to extend its availability to the entire AI ecosystem.”
Aya Peterburg of S Capital said: "At S Capital, we recognized the artificial intelligence trend from the very beginning. We met Omri and Ronen when the idea behind Run:ai was still in its early stages. From the outset of our partnership, we believed in Omri and Ronen’s ability to turn their idea into a central product in the field of AI infrastructure. I have been very happy to work with the exceptional team at Run:ai, and I thank Omri, Ronen, and all of the company’s employees for their outstanding performance."
Rona Segev, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at TLV Partners, which led Run:ai’s seed investment and participated in all subsequent funding rounds, shared: "From the moment I met Omri and Ronen in 2018, it was clear they were exceptional founders with a bold vision. This was before AI became a dominant force, yet they identified a critical gap in the training and development of AI models and introduced a groundbreaking solution to address it. Over the past six years, it’s been an incredible journey to support them as they turned their vision into reality. Today’s acquisition is a testament to their unwavering dedication, pioneering technology, and the hard work of the entire Run:ai team. It’s also a proud moment for the broader Israeli tech ecosystem, highlighting its global impact and innovation."
