Spanish ‘soonicorn’ Multiverse Computing releases free compressed AI model

Source: TechCrunch

Overview

Large language models have a problem: they are large. Multiverse Computing, a Spanish startup, is addressing this issue with compressed models that aim to close the gap between what frontier models can do and what companies can actually afford to deploy.

Compression Technology: CompactifAI

The secret sauce is CompactifAI, a compression technology inspired by quantum computing that the Basque company has applied to models released by OpenAI.

HyperNova 60B Model

Developers can access a newer version of Multiverse’s HyperNova 60B model for free on Hugging Face. The company also plans to open‑source more compressed models in 2026 to support a wider range of use cases.

• Size: 32 GB, roughly half the size of its source model, OpenAI’s gpt‑oss‑120B.
• Benefits: lower memory usage and lower latency.
• Updated version: HyperNova 60B 2602, with better support for tool calling and agentic coding, where inference costs can be high.

Competition

Multiverse claims to have beaten Mistral Large 3, a model from French decacorn Mistral AI.

• Both companies have expanded beyond their home markets, with offices in the United States, Canada, and across Europe.
• Enterprise customers include Iberdrola, Bosch, and the Bank of Canada (Multiverse).

Funding and Valuation

• Rumored to be raising a fresh €500 million funding round at a valuation of over €1.5 billion (Bloomberg).
• Multiverse confirmed active discussions with investors but declined to comment on valuation or funding size.
• The company also declined to comment on reports that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) reached €100 million in January.

Context:

• OpenAI’s ARR is reported at $20 billion.
• Mistral’s ARR soared to over $400 million, reflecting growing demand for alternatives to U.S. tech.

Partnerships and Collaborations

• Collaboration with the regional government of Aragón (press release).
• The Spanish Agency for Technological Transformation (SETT) participated in the AI startup’s $215 million Series B (TechCrunch) last year.
• Since its inception, Multiverse has benefited from support from the Basque region, which could soon count its first unicorn.

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Multiverse positions itself, in its latest press release, as a company that can “deliver sovereign solutions across the AI stack.” (press release)