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Thunder Compute

YC S24

San Francisco, US · Founded 2022 · 10 employees · Hiring · 10 known investors

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Thunder Compute develops GPU virtualization software that improves utilization of graphics processing units in data centers. The company targets cloud providers and enterprises seeking to increase computational capacity without additional hardware investment.

Also known as Thunder GPU, Inc. · Thunder

AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureDeep TechDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareArtificial IntelligenceData ScienceInfrastructureUnited States of AmericaAmerica / Canada

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S24)

Thunder Compute was founded in 2022 by Carl Peterson and Brian Model.

CPCarl Peterson
Carl PetersonCo-Founder & CEOCarl Peterson is the CEO of Thunder Compute and previously worked as a management consultant at Bain.
BMBrian Model
Brian ModelCo-Founder & CTOBrian Model is a quantitative developer who previously worked at Citadel Securities and now serves as CTO at Thunder Compute.

Investors · 10

Preston-Werner Ventureslisted by Preston-Werner VenturesSan Francisco Bay Area · $500K – $3M

How we know: Preston-Werner Ventures's portfolio page · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Transpose Platform Managementlisted by Transpose Platform ManagementSan Francisco

How we know: Transpose Platform Management's portfolio page · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Y Combinatorlisted by Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

How we know: the Y Combinator directory · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Asymmetry VenturesreportedRichmond · $125K – $500K

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Avesta FundreportedDenver · $2M – $5M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

CyberAgent CapitalreportedTokyo

How we know: a partner's Signal profile · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

MatrixreportedSan Francisco · $100K – $10M

How we know: a partner's Signal profile · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

SparkLabs KoreareportedPalo Alto

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Team IgnitereportedFolsom · $15M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Funding

SEC filings, press & company announcements

$13M disclosed across 1 of 3 rounds · 2024–2026

Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.

The YC application· Summer 2024 batch

Alumni Q&A

How did your company get started? (i.e., How did the founders meet? How did you come up with the idea? How did you decide to be a founder?)
The founders, Carl Peterson and Brian Model, met as freshmen at Georgia Tech. The concept came from Brian's work in a Systems for AI lab, where researchers booked GPUs weeks ahead using Google Sheets, which slowed their research and prompted the founders to look at improving GPU access.

Summarized from the founders' answers on their Y Combinator profile.

Images

Thunder Compute photo

Related companies · 10

NVIDIANVIDIA designs GPUs, AI computing hardware, and software platforms for AI development, data centers, autonomous vehicles, and robotics, serving developers, researchers, and enterprises. Its offerings include AI models, power architecture for AI factories, and compute infrastructure used across industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and automotive.
PercivalPercival develops an AI assistant that helps researchers process and interpret real-world datasets for analytical purposes.
RunpodRunpod is an AI developer cloud that provides on-demand GPU infrastructure for experimenting with, training, fine-tuning, deploying, and scaling machine learning models. It offers autoscaling serverless GPU endpoints, persistent GPU pods, and multi-GPU clusters for AI developers and teams running inference and training workloads.
PreloopPreloop provides tools to automate the deployment of machine learning models from experimental stages into production environments, enabling teams to focus on model development rather than infrastructure work.
NorthflankNorthflank is a developer platform for deploying and running application workloads across cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google) and bare-metal without infrastructure management or vendor lock-in. It targets software engineers and ops teams building and shipping cloud-native applications.
LotasLotas develops an AI coding assistant embedded in RStudio that helps R-language data scientists and statisticians read, write, and modify code with contextual awareness of their codebase and environment.
Vast.AI GPU compute cloudVast.ai provides on-demand access to GPUs and specialized compute hardware for running AI models and intensive computing workloads. The platform serves developers and organizations seeking lower-cost alternatives to major cloud providers with pay-per-second pricing and support for multiple GPU architectures.
Alkera AIAlkera is an AI agent for data teams that automates data pipeline development, testing, and debugging across various data platforms. It provides column-level lineage tracking, end-to-end pipeline generation, and legacy pipeline modernization for enterprises managing complex data stacks.
SpheronSpheron operates a GPU cloud marketplace that aggregates compute capacity from certified data centers worldwide, offering NVIDIA GPUs (H100, H200, B200, A100) at 40-60% below hyperscaler pricing. The platform serves AI training teams and ML builders with on-demand GPU instances, reserved capacity, and custom cluster sourcing across multiple providers through a single dashboard.
ModalModal provides a cloud platform that lets developers define compute, hardware, and application logic in Python and deploy to the cloud, with fast-booting containers and autoscaling GPUs. It targets AI and ML workloads such as inference, model training, and large-scale parallel processing.

Companies working in the same space as Thunder Compute.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure
Thunder GPU, Inc.

In the news

Thunder Compute raises $13M Series A to squeeze more work out of idle GPUssiliconangle.com · Aug 2026Trysignalbasetrysignalbase.com · Jul 2026Thunder Compute: Launch GPU instances in one click for 80% lessycombinator.com · Aug 2024Thunder Compute Funding | $900K Revenue | Complete Analysis | Extruct AIextruct.ai · Jul 2024

Frequently asked questions

What does Thunder Compute do?
Thunder Compute develops GPU virtualization software that improves utilization of graphics processing units in data centers. The company targets cloud providers and enterprises seeking to increase computational capacity without additional hardware investment.
Who founded Thunder Compute?
Thunder Compute was founded by Carl Peterson, Brian Model in 2022.
Who are Thunder Compute's investors?
Thunder Compute's investors include Amino Capital, Preston-Werner Ventures, Transpose Platform Management, Y Combinator, Asymmetry Ventures, Avesta Fund, CyberAgent Capital, Matrix and 2 more.
How much funding has Thunder Compute raised?
Thunder Compute has disclosed $13M raised across 1 of its 3 known rounds.
Where is Thunder Compute headquartered?
Thunder Compute is headquartered in San Francisco, US.