Harmonic, an AI startup co-founded by Vlad Tenev, has secured $120 million in a fresh Series C funding round. This new funding round values the company at $1.45 billion. The round was led by Ribbit Capital. Existing investors such as Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins participated again. A new investor, Emerson Collective, joined in this round.

Harmonic aims to build what it calls Mathematical Superintelligence (MSI). Unlike many AI models that guess answers, Harmonic’s approach forces the AI to reason in math and logic. Their flagship model is Aristotle. Aristotle uses a formal logic framework and outputs answers as computer-verifiable proofs. The company said that Aristotle recently achieved gold-medal level performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), placing it on par with some of the top research institutions in the world developing both AI and mathematics.

This is the third major funding round for Harmonic in the last 14 months. Before this round, it raised a Series B and Series A. The total funding raised now is around $295 million. The startup is still pre-revenue. The recent funding will go toward building its tech, hiring engineers, and expanding computing infrastructure which is needed for math-heavy AI research.

Harmonic said this work aims to reduce AI “hallucinations.” Hallucinations are wrong or made-up answers that many AI models produce. The founders believe a math-first approach can make AI more reliable. Investors in the new round said that they backed Harmonic because they see high value in AI with strong reasoning and accuracy over guesswork. Ribbit Capital and Emerson Collective were among those who cited this as a key reason.

For now, Aristotle is available to researchers via a free API. Some mathematicians and academics have started using that API to test proofs or verify complex math problems. Harmonic plans to expand access over time. Harmonic’s growth shows that new AI ideas still get strong support. Even in a crowded space, a clear idea can stand out.

With this new funding, Harmonic plans to further develop its math-based AI. Ultimately, the company wants to develop systems that demonstrate clearly and can explain how they arrived at a solution and support critical work in the real world.

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