UC Berkeley startup arena hits $100 million annualized revenue run rate
Arena, a startup born at UC Berkeley, has hit a $100 million annualized revenue run rate just eight months after launching its commercial service.
The company first made waves with its free crowdsourced AI leaderboard, powered by over 10 million user ratings, and in September 2025 it rolled out AI Evaluations, a paid tool that helps companies and labs track how well their AI models are actually performing.
Arena raises $150 million at $1.7B valuation
Founded by UC Berkeley researchers Anastasios Angelopoulos, Wei-Lin Chiang, and Ion Stoica, Arena quickly caught the eye of big investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins.
They raised $150 million in January 2026 (valuing the startup at $1.7 billion), bringing total funding to $250 million.
Arena now competes with firms like Scale AI to help businesses fine-tune their AI models, meeting the growing demand for smarter tech.