LangChain, an AI infrastructure startup that offers tools to build and monitor applications powered by large language models (LLMs), is reportedly raising a fresh funding round at an estimated $1 billion valuation, with IVP leading the investment, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Harrison Chase, then an engineer at machine learning startup Robust Intelligence, launched the company as an open-source initiative in late 2022. After attracting strong interest from developers, Chase transitioned the project into a full-fledged startup. In April 2023, LangChain raised a $10 million seed round from Benchmark, followed shortly by a $25 million Series A led by Sequoia, which reportedly valued the company at $200 million.
LangChain quickly rose to prominence as one of the early standouts of the AI boom. At the time of its debut, large language models (LLMs) lacked access to real-time data and couldn’t perform tasks like web searches, API calls, or database interactions. LangChain addressed these gaps by offering an open-source framework that enabled developers to build applications on top of LLMs with those enhanced capabilities. Its impact was immediate, becoming a viral success on GitHub with over 111,000 stars and more than 18,000 forks.
However, the LLM ecosystem has rapidly evolved. New entrants such as LlamaIndex, Haystack, and AutoGPT now offer similar functionality. At the same time, major LLM providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have upgraded their APIs to include features that were once exclusive to LangChain’s platform—narrowing the startup’s technological edge.
To expand beyond its core framework, LangChain introduced LangSmith, a separate closed-source product focused on observability, evaluation, and monitoring of LLM-powered applications—particularly agent-based systems. According to multiple sources, LangSmith has seen a surge in popularity since its launch last year.
The product has helped LangChain generate an estimated annual recurring revenue (ARR) between $12 million and $16 million. LangSmith lets developers start for free, with paid plans starting at $39 per month for team collaboration features. The company also provides custom pricing for large enterprises.
Notable companies using LangSmith include Klarna, Rippling, and Replit. While LangSmith currently leads the emerging LLM operations (LLMOps) market, it faces competition from smaller open-source players like Langfuse and Helicone.
