Cortex Labs
Cortex Labs provided open-source cloud infrastructure for deploying and scaling machine learning models in production on AWS. It served ML engineering teams with model serving, MLOps, and data processing capabilities before being acquired by Databricks in April 2022.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Cortex Labs does
Cortex Labs developed cloud-native infrastructure for deploying, managing, and scaling machine learning models in production. Its core product, Cortex, was an open-source platform built natively on top of Amazon EKS that abstracted Kubernetes complexity for ML engineering teams. The platform unified three workload types (Realtime, Async, and Batch) and provided automated cluster management with CPU/GPU autoscaling, spot instance support with automated on-demand backups, and multi-environment cluster configurations. Customers provisioned Cortex into their own AWS accounts using declarative configuration or Terraform, integrating with VPC for data isolation, IAM for access control, Grafana for metrics, and CloudWatch for logs. The platform also supported MLOps use cases through continuous model retraining and evaluation services, as well as compute-intensive microservices and large-scale image, video, and audio data processing pipelines.
Cortex Labs served machine learning and data engineering teams that needed to operationalize inference workloads without managing Kubernetes directly. Its only publicly named customer was Two Six Technologies (a technology/defense firm), which reported servicing 500M+ API calls per month on the platform. The company operated a product-led growth motion with no traditional sales force: users discovered and deployed Cortex through GitHub, documentation, and self-serve onboarding. Because the platform ran in the customer's own AWS account, the underlying AWS infrastructure costs were borne by the customer, and Cortex Labs did not publicly disclose pricing.
In April 2022, Cortex Labs announced it was joining Databricks, integrating its model serving and MLOps capabilities with Databricks' lakehouse platform. Following the acquisition, the company operated as part of Databricks rather than as an independent entity. No revenue, funding rounds, headcount history, or financial details were disclosed prior to or at the time of the acquisition.
Cortex Labs firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cortex Labs
- Legal name
- Cortex Labs
- Website
- https://cortex.dev
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Cortex Labs provided open-source cloud infrastructure for deploying and scaling machine learning models in production on AWS. It served ML engineering teams with model serving, MLOps, and data processing capabilities before being acquired by Databricks in April 2022.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cortex Labs industry classification
Industry- Product category
- MLOps Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- End-to-End MLOps & ML Platform Suites (HDAAABAA)
Keywords
Where Cortex Labs is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Cortex Labs business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels3 records
Cortex Labs product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cortex Labs provides an open-source cloud infrastructure platform for deploying, managing, and scaling machine learning models in production. Built natively on AWS EKS, the platform supports realtime, async, and batch serverless workloads with automated cluster autoscaling, spot instance cost optimization, and pre-built observability integrations. Customers self-provision the platform on their own AWS accounts using declarative configuration or Terraform.
Product overview
Cortex Labs provides a unified cloud infrastructure platform for machine learning at scale. The core product, Cortex, enables deployment, management, and scaling of ML models in production through modular components: Serverless Workloads (Realtime, Async, Batch), Automated Cluster Management (autoscaling, spot instances, environments), and MLOps capabilities. The platform integrates with Grafana for metrics, CloudWatch for logs, and Terraform for provisioning, running on AWS EKS infrastructure.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cortex Cloud infrastructure platform that enables ML engineering teams to deploy, manage, and scale machine learning models in production. Built on AWS EKS, it provides serverless workload types (Realtime, Async, Batch), automated cluster management, and integrations with Terraform, Grafana, and CloudWatch.
Quantifiable outcome
- 500M+ API calls per month served for a single customer
Companies that use Cortex Labs
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Cortex Labs technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability6 records
Feature16 records
Cortex Labs partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- DatabricksflagshipCortex Labs announced joining Databricks in April 2022. This acquisition combines Cortex's ML serving infrastructure with Databricks' data lakehouse platform, enabling seamless deployment of ML models trained on Databricks to production inference endpoints managed by Cortex.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreCortex is built natively on AWS EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service). Runs on customer VPC infrastructure with IAM integration for authentication and authorization. Supports EC2 instances including spot instances for cost optimization.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Cortex Labs competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Strengths4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Cortex Labs social profiles
Digital presenceCortex Labs financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cortex Labs leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Cortex Labs funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cortex Labs M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cortex Labs
What does Cortex Labs do?
Cortex Labs provides an open-source cloud infrastructure platform for deploying, managing, and scaling machine learning models in production. Built natively on AWS EKS, the platform supports realtime, async, and batch serverless workloads with automated cluster autoscaling, spot instance cost optimization, and pre-built observability integrations. Customers self-provision the platform on their own AWS accounts using declarative configuration or Terraform.
Is Cortex Labs a public or private company?
Cortex Labs is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Cortex Labs founded?
Cortex Labs was founded in -1. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Cortex Labs based?
Cortex Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
Does Cortex Labs have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cortex Labs.
What industry is Cortex Labs in?
Cortex Labs's product category is MLOps Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAABAA, End-to-End MLOps & ML Platform Suites. Its NAICS code is 51821 and its SIC code is 7372.