Investment round supports Ultralytics as its open-source vision AI models are used more than 2 billion times per day by over 1 million developers worldwide

Ultralytics, a global leader in vision AI at the edge, has completed a $30 million Series A funding round led by Elephant with participation from SquareOne.

“Ultralytics’ success is built on the conviction that open-source drives enterprise innovation, and nowhere is that more evident than in artificial intelligence,” said Glenn Jocher, Founder and CEO, Ultralytics. “We’ve redefined what’s possible with Edge AI, delivering YOLO models that are faster, lighter, and more accessible than ever. This investment validates our achievements and underscores our future potential as we accelerate R&D and expand an ecosystem of application-layer solutions powered by YOLO.”

Ultralytics YOLO: An open-source vision AI phenomenon

Ultralytics’ core offering is its vision AI technology, a transformational application of artificial intelligence. Using vision AI, organizations can automate the identification of objects in images and videos and take action based on what they see. The technology is already being deployed for applications across industries, from agriculture and manufacturing to healthcare and robotics, for use cases such as monitoring crops, powering autonomous driving systems, managing retail inventory, improving manufacturing quality control, and streamlining logistics.

Central to Ultralytics’ value for customers and developers is its work with open-source YOLO models. Short for “You Only Look Once,” YOLO is an object detection and image segmentation model that powers vision AI applications at the edge. Ultralytics’ continued development and innovation of their Ultralytics YOLO models has yielded strong performance in terms of speed and accuracy, combined with a streamlined design. These advances have made Ultralytics YOLO a widely used computer vision model across industries and domains.

This technological leadership has driven phenomenal growth in the AI developer community. Ultralytics’ models are trusted by over 1 million developers and are used more than 2 billion times a day across more than 200 countries, as of September 2025. The company has over 115,000 GitHub stars and was recognized as the #5 open-source repository in the world – alongside Microsoft’s Power Tools, and ahead of Google’s Flutter and Langchain – by GitHub in its 2024 Octoverse Report.

Profitable from day one, Ultralytics has rapidly scaled since launching its enterprise licensing model in 2023, growing into a global leader in computer vision and serving a world-class clientele that includes Siemens, STMicroelectronics, Duolingo, Fortune 500 companies, and leading startups—all without relying on heavy outside funding. The enterprise model has enabled secure, large-scale deployments in closed environments, driving widespread adoption of Ultralytics’ vision AI technology across industries.

Investing in Ultralytics’ next chapter

"Ultralytics is unique in its ability to capitalize on the power of open-source innovation and deliver an enterprise-grade vision AI solution that can handle business-critical applications at the edge," said Peter Fallon, General Partner, Elephant. “The strength of the open-source community, the commercial traction, and the capital efficiency with which the business has been built are all impressive. We’re excited to be on board with Glenn and the Ultralytics team as we support their next phase of growth.”

"SquareOne invested in Ultralytics at the seed stage because we believed in the power of open-source and Glenn’s vision,” said Georg Stockinger, Partner, SquareOne. “They’ve since built one of the largest AI developer communities, creating a defensible moat in modern tech. We’re excited to continue our support in this Series A as Ultralytics expands its global impact in vision AI."

Armed with its latest funding, Ultralytics is accelerating hiring across YOLO research & development, enterprise solutions engineering, and go-to-market teams. “Growth at Ultralytics goes beyond metrics; it’s about building meaningful products for our customers and the open-source community that has supported us from the start,” said Paula Derrenger, VP of Growth, Ultralytics. “This investment gives us the resources to scale globally, expand customer adoption, and deepen partnerships so that we can turn innovation into real-world impact for organizations everywhere.”

The company will also host its annual YOLO Vision event in London on September 25th, bringing together researchers, engineers, and developers from over 500 companies for a full day of keynotes, live demos, networking, and product launches.

For more information, visit https://www.ultralytics.com/

About Ultralytics

Founded by Glenn Jocher, Ultralytics is a leading force in vision AI, best known for its Ultralytics YOLO (You Only Look Once) models. With over 115,000 GitHub stars, 115+ million Python package downloads, and 2 billion daily usages, Ultralytics YOLOv5, YOLOv8, and now YOLO11 have become widely recognized object detection models globally. Ultralytics empowers users with easy-to-use, cutting-edge AI technology. Our mission is to simplify and democratize the use of AI, making it accessible and impactful across industries ranging from manufacturing to agriculture, healthcare, and more.

About Elephant VC

Elephant is a venture capital firm focused on the enterprise software, consumer internet, and mobile markets.

About SquareOne

SquareOne is a Berlin-based venture capital firm investing in pre-seed and seed-stage B2B technology companies across Europe. Founded in 2010 (formerly Paua Ventures), SquareOne backs ambitious founders in software and deep tech, helping build the foundation for the category-defining tech leaders of tomorrow. Its portfolio includes Stripe, Pipedrive, CarbonOne, Wandelbots, and Ultralytics.

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