AI coding agent startup Factory triples valuation to $5 billion in latest funding round

• The fundraise comes as companies such as Coinbase COIN.O and Block XYZ.N reshape their workforces around AI, citing improvements in productivity.
• However, the rapid pace of AI development has also raised concerns, with top industry executives calling for slower advances amid mounting fears the technology could be misused.
• The San Francisco, California-based company raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in April.

• The funding was backed by Blackstone, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, Evantic Capital, Sound Ventures, among others.
• Founded in 2023 by Matan Grinberg and Eno Reyes, Factory offers a platform that allows enterprises to use AI agents to build, test and maintain software, competing with AI coding platforms such as Cognition and Cursor.
• Cognition raised $2 billion at a $48 billion valuation earlier this month.
• "Across the world’s largest enterprises, we are seeing a move from individual coding agents to software factories that serve as the core foundation from which an entire software company operates," said Matan Grinberg, co-founder and CEO of Factory.

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Factory, a startup developing AI agents for enterprise engineering teams, said on Tuesday it had raised $200 million in a funding round that more than tripled its valuation to $5 billion.