# Arena raises $200M Series B, valuation hits $3.1B

> The AI leaderboard startup doubled its valuation in 10 months after a new funding round.

Oossa · 2026-10-08 · https://oossa.com/en/arena-raises-200m-series-b-valuation-hits-3-1b

Arena, the crowdsourced AI model ranking platform that started at UC Berkeley in 2023, announced a $200 million Series B on Thursday. The round valued the company at $3.1 billion, almost twice its $1.7 billion valuation from January. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Khosla Ventures led the funding, with a16z, Salesforce Ventures and others participating. Arena said its commercial product, AI Evaluations, launched last September and has helped labs and enterprises pick models as static benchmarks lose reliability.

## The facts

- Series B raised $200 million, valuation $3.1 billion (Oct 8 2026)
- Annualized revenue reached $100 million in June 2026

## Why it matters

Enterprises can now buy third‑party performance analytics to choose safer, better‑aligned models, reducing reliance on flawed benchmarks.

## Sources & references

1. [Popular AI leaderboard Arena nearly doubles valuation to $3.1B valuation in 10 months](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/08/popular-ai-leaderboard-arena-nearly-doubles-valuation-to-3-1b-valuation-in-10-months/) – TechCrunch, 2026-10-08

Last updated: 2026-10-08