Blacksmith, an AI code testing startup, has raised $45 million in a Series B funding round led by Peak XV, valuing the company at $550 million. The investment underscores the growing demand for AI-driven developer tools.
TL;DR
- Blacksmith raises $45M in Series B funding at a $550M valuation, led by Peak XV.
- The startup plans to expand its computing infrastructure to meet rising demand for AI code testing.
- Blacksmith's tools aim to validate and merge code faster, competing with established players like GitHub Actions.
What happened
Blacksmith, a San Francisco-based AI code testing startup, announced a $45 million Series B funding round led by Peak XV. The round, which closed in March 2026, values the company at $550 million. Existing investors Google Ventures (GV) and Y Combinator also participated, bringing Blacksmith's total capital raised to $58.5 million.
Founded in 2024 by Aditya Jayaprakash, Aditya Maru, and Aayush Shah, Blacksmith initially focused on automatically testing code before deployment. The startup is now developing tools to validate and merge code faster, including [code]smith, a cloud-based coding agent that can build features, fix bugs, and resolve CI failures. Blacksmith also plans to launch [code]smith QA for autonomous code testing.
Why it matters
The investment highlights the growing importance of AI-driven developer tools as AI coding models improve and produce more software. Blacksmith's tools aim to address the increasing need for infrastructure to validate and test AI-generated code, a market that is expected to explode in the coming decade.
For developers and startups, Blacksmith's tools offer a competitive edge by promising faster and more cost-effective code testing. The startup claims its infrastructure can run workloads up to twice as fast and at 50%-75% lower costs than GitHub-hosted runners. This positions Blacksmith as a strong competitor in the AI code testing space, challenging established players like GitHub Actions, CircleCI, and Buildkite.
Key facts
- Blacksmith raised $45 million in a Series B funding round led by Peak XV, valuing the company at $550 million.
- The round was joined by existing investors Google Ventures (GV) and Y Combinator.
- Blacksmith's total capital raised now stands at $58.5 million.
- The startup plans to expand its computing infrastructure by around 10X in the coming months.
- Blacksmith's tools are used by over 6,000 companies, including Supabase, Clerk, Ashby, and Mercury.
- The number of continuous integration (CI) jobs run on Blacksmith's platform has grown 5%-10% week-on-week since the beginning of 2026.
- Blacksmith's [code]smith can build features, fix bugs, diagnose CI failures, and automatically resolve them.
- The startup is developing [code]smith QA for autonomous code testing before merging.
Context
The investment in Blacksmith comes as Peak XV expands its presence in the US, focusing on AI and developer tools startups. The VC firm has built a team of eight members in the US and opened its first San Francisco office, backing several notable startups in the AI space.
Blacksmith's growth reflects the broader trend of increasing adoption of AI code generation tools, driving demand for efficient and cost-effective code testing solutions. As AI coding models continue to improve, the need for robust infrastructure to validate and test AI-generated code will only grow, positioning Blacksmith and similar startups for significant opportunities in the market.
