Inference is the next great market - IVP partner & CEO of Baseten

AI inference represents the next major market opportunity, shifting focus from model training to scalable, production-ready infrastructure. While enterprises often struggle to transition AI initiatives from experimental "skunkworks" to full-scale production, they increasingly seek long-term partners capable of managing mission-critical workloads. This demand is particularly pronounced in highly regulated sectors like healthcare and government, where legacy systems have long hindered innovation. For AI startups, the primary competitive imperative is speed; offloading non-core infrastructure tasks—such as inference management—to specialized providers is essential to maintaining agility in a crowded, fast-evolving landscape. Shravan Narayen, an investor at IVP, highlights that successful SaaS companies in this space act as force multipliers, helping enterprise buyers achieve measurable ROI and operational success, ultimately positioning themselves as indispensable partners in the modern AI-driven enterprise stack.