On May 4, 2026, cloud AI infrastructure startup DeepInfra closed a $107 million Series B funding round. Backers included tech giants NVIDIA, Samsung Next, and Georges Harik, one of Google’s first ten engineers. One of the company’s co-founders is Kazakhstani programmer and KBTU alumnus Yessenzhar Kanapin. While the funding announcement was widely covered, verified profiles of Kanapin himself remained scarce. RAEM.KZ synthesized verified open records tracing his journey from Almaty programming olympiads to Silicon Valley venture scale.
Executive Summary: Who Is Yessenzhar Kanapin?
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Role | Co-Founder of DeepInfra |
| Education | Kazakh-British Technical University (KBTU), Almaty |
| Prior Track Record | 10+ years in the US; senior software engineer at Imo.im (messaging app with 200M+ users) |
| Founded DeepInfra | 2022 |
| Series A | $18 million, April 22, 2025 |
| Series B | $107 million, May 2026 |
| Total Capital Raised | At least $133 million across three disclosed venture rounds |
| Series B Co-Leads | 500 Global, Georges Harik (early Google founding engineer) |
| Participating Investors | NVIDIA, Samsung Next, A.Capital Ventures, Crescent Cove, Felicis, Peak6, Supermicro, Upper90 |
| Core Product | High-performance cloud AI inference platform — 190+ open-source models at Series B, OpenAI-compatible API |
From ACM-ICPC Competitive Programming to Silicon Valley
Yessenzhar Kanapin studied computer science at Kazakh-British Technical University (KBTU) in Almaty, excelling in international competitive programming. In May 2011, his university team (alongside Arman Yessenamanov and Bakytzhan Baizhikenov) reached the World Finals of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC), placing 34th globally among premier universities worldwide. This collegiate technical rigor established the foundational systems engineering skillset needed to tackle distributed computing at scale.
Following graduation, Kanapin relocated to the United States. According to DeepInfra’s company records, he spent over a decade building high-load communications infrastructure at Imo.im, an instant messaging and video-calling network serving over 200 million global users. In 2022, Kanapin teamed up with engineering peers to co-found DeepInfra, targeting the exponential cost and complexity bottlenecks in machine learning operations.
What Is DeepInfra and Why Did NVIDIA and Samsung Back It?
DeepInfra is an ultra-fast, serverless cloud inference platform that allows engineering teams to deploy and run pre-trained AI foundation models without building, renting, or orchestrating dedicated GPU clusters. By the time of its Series B round, the platform hosted more than 190 leading open-source models—including Llama, Mistral, Qwen, and Whisper—accessible via a standardized OpenAI-compatible API, combined with a strict zero-data-retention privacy policy. This achievement mirrors the global footprint of other Central Asian founders, such as the founders of Perceptis building mission-critical AI compute infrastructure.
According to DeepInfra’s telemetry, since closing its Series A, the startup experienced a 25-fold surge in processed token volumes. By May 2026, DeepInfra was serving nearly 5 trillion tokens per week. This massive throughput velocity, coupled with competitive pricing (often 3x to 5x cheaper than proprietary model endpoints), solidified its position as an essential infrastructure layer for AI application developers.
Three Funding Rounds and Over $133 Million in Capital
Public corporate filings show DeepInfra completed three major venture financings: an $8 million seed round in November 2023, an $18 million Series A in April 2025, and a blockbuster $107 million Series B in May 2026. Cumulatively, the company has raised over $133 million. The latest round was co-led by 500 Global and Georges Harik, joined by semiconductor and cloud giants NVIDIA, Supermicro, Samsung Next, alongside institutional funds A.Capital Ventures, Crescent Cove, Felicis, Peak6, and Upper90.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Yessenzhar Kanapin?
Co-founder of DeepInfra, a Kazakhstani software engineer and KBTU graduate who has lived and worked in the US for more than a decade. Prior to founding DeepInfra, he engineered high-scale messaging backends at Imo.im. Rapid, low-cost open-source inference is vital for enterprises deploying autonomous AI agents.
How much funding has DeepInfra raised?
At least $133 million across three publicly announced funding rounds: an $8M seed round (November 2023), an $18M Series A (April 2025), and a $107M Series B (May 2026).
Who invested in DeepInfra’s Series B?
The round was co-led by 500 Global and angel investor Georges Harik (one of Google’s initial 10 employees), joined by NVIDIA, Samsung Next, Supermicro, A.Capital Ventures, Crescent Cove, Felicis, Peak6, and Upper90.
What core problem does DeepInfra solve?
It provides engineers with instant API access to top open-source AI models, eliminating the capital expense and operational complexity of purchasing or managing dedicated GPU servers.
