AI code-testing startup Blacksmith's valuation jumps nearly 10x to $550M in under a year

AI code-testing startup Blacksmith’s valuation jumps almost 10x in less than a year

Blacksmith raised a $45M Series B led by Peak XV Partners, with GV and Y Combinator participating. Valuation hit $550M, up from $60M less than a year ago. The startup handles pre-production code testing and validation, growing from 700+ to 5,000+ customers including Mercury, Supabase, Clerk, Ashby, and Expensify. Revenue grew more than tenfold over the past year, per the CEO. The surge reflects a new bottleneck: AI writes code fast, but testing it still needs to catch up.

Why it matters: AI coding has turned testing into the new bottleneck, and Blacksmith's 10x valuation jump nails that trend into a funding headline. Revenue up 10x+, customers from 700 to 5,000+ — the numbers are solid. Docked because the post doesn't disclose actual revenue base, and the topi...