AI Benchmarking Platform LM Arena Raises $100M in Seed Funding
LM Arena, the crowdsourced platform used by leading AI labs to benchmark and evaluate their AI models, has secured $100 million in seed funding. This investment values the organization at $600 million.
The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and UC Investments, the investment arm of the University of California. Other participants include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Felicis Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins.
We’re excited to share that we’ve raised $100M in seed funding to support LM Arena and continue our research on reliable AI. Led by @a16z and UC Investments (@UofCalifornia), we're proud to have the support of those that believe in both the science and the mission. https://t.co/Aem2jClwHh pic.twitter.com/KEC5BJca8b
— lmarena.ai (formerly lmsys.org) (May 21, 2025)
Founded in 2023, LM Arena has quickly become a key resource in the AI industry. Run primarily by UC Berkeley-affiliated researchers, LM Arena partners with prominent AI companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. These partnerships allow the community to evaluate cutting-edge AI models.
Previously, LM Arena operated through grants and donations from organizations such as Google's Kaggle data science platform, a16z, and Together AI.
Recent accusations by some researchers alleging that LM Arena helps top AI labs manipulate leaderboard rankings have been strongly denied by the organization.
This significant investment will enable LM Arena to further develop its platform and continue its crucial work in AI benchmarking and research.
