VAST Data CEO and founder Renen Hallak made an early, prescient prediction that AI models would face a growing need for data services, so he launched a company in 2016 to provide data management and infrastructure software. Since then, New York City-based VAST Data’s valuation has skyrocketed, nearly tripling from $3.7 billion in 2021 to more than $9 billion in December 2023 after a $118 million series E round. Clients like NASA, Zoom, and Pixar contribute to the $200 million in signed contracts the startup had at the end of 2023.
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Aug 16, 2026
VAST Data is a privately held AI infrastructure company that develops a unified data platform for storage, database, compute, and agentic execution. Its architecture is designed to support large-scale AI training, inference, analytics, and other data-intensive workloads across on-premises, hybrid-cloud, and public-cloud environments.
Primary product
VAST AI Operating System (AI OS), including the VAST DataSpace unified namespace, high-performance file and object storage, database services, containerized compute, and agentic execution.
Founded
2016
Headquarters
New York City, New York, United States
Team size
900-1,000
Work style
Remote
Industry
Software Development
Sub-industry
AI infrastructure, enterprise data platforms, and software-defined storage
Offices
Business model
Stage
Late-stage private / pre-IPO
Total raised
$1.4B
Latest round
Series F · Apr 2026
Latest amount
$1B
Apr 2026 · Drive Capital and Access Industries
Nov 2023 · Fidelity Management & Research Company
May 2021 · Tiger Global Management
Apr 2020 · N47
Feb 2019
Jan 2016
Leadership
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer / VP Technology
Co-Founder and Chief Scientist; VP Core Engineering
Chief R&D Officer and Co-Founder
Co-Founder
President
Amy Shapero
Chief Financial Officer
Vice President of Systems Engineering
Public materials describe VAST as a remote-first company with a globally distributed workforce and an engineering-oriented, high-growth culture focused on AI infrastructure, rapid product development, and close collaboration with major cloud, semiconductor, and systems partners. Public reporting describes a relatively modest and execution-focused culture rather than a highly publicized perks culture.
Work style
Remote
Compensation
Public job listings indicate substantial hiring across engineering, cloud, systems engineering, sales, and finance, but VAST does not consistently publish salary bands or a general compensation framework. Compensation details should be verified role by role.
Pricing
Enterprise quote-based pricing, generally involving software subscriptions or licenses, support, capacity/performance tiers, and deployment or cloud-service arrangements. Public list pricing was not found.
Differentiators
Technology
Customers
Competitors
Estimated revenue
$200M-$400M annual recurring revenue / annualized revenue; public estimates vary. VAST was reported at approximately $200M ARR in early 2025 and $350M-$400M ARR at the end of 2025.
Estimated monthly visits
149.2K
Traffic estimate as of Jun 2026
NetApp filed litigation against former CTO Jonsi Stefansson concerning alleged misuse of NetApp intellectual property in connection with Red Stapler. VAST acquired or acqui-hired the Red Stapler team in September 2025; VAST was reportedly not named as a defendant, but the matter could create technology, employment, or integration risk.
SourceReports described VAST seeking a new financing at a valuation around $25 billion, with terms not finalized at the time. The large valuation step-up creates execution and investor-expectation risk.
SourceGartner-related commentary cited potential risks including limited branded appliance offerings, frequent software releases, and gaps or limited traction in some enterprise features and hybrid-cloud deployments. VAST has argued that subsequent partnerships and cloud offerings addressed some of these concerns.
SourceVAST Data / GlobeNewswire · Apr 2026
VAST announced the closing of its Series F financing at a reported $30 billion valuation, marking a major financing and valuation milestone.
VAST Data · Nov 2025
VAST and Google Cloud announced a managed VAST AI OS service and hybrid-cloud DataSpace capabilities through Google Cloud.
Reuters · Nov 2025
VAST signed a $1.17 billion commercial agreement under which CoreWeave would use VAST as the primary data platform for its AI cloud infrastructure.
VAST Data · Nov 2025
VAST's official announcement described the expanded CoreWeave relationship and its role in supporting training, inference, and large-scale AI processing.
Blocks & Files · Sep 2025
VAST acquired or acqui-hired the small Red Stapler team, adding cloud control-plane, SaaS delivery, billing, monitoring, and observability capabilities.
190 jobs at VAST Data