FRESH
Hacker News
Hacker News Hacker NewsI quickly realized Cog was an obstacle rather than an accelerator. I replaced it with a lightweight FastAPI layer, which immediately unblocked me:
1. Native I/O with Google Cloud Storage.
2. Freedom to use the latest Torch and Nvidia Docker images without abstraction overhead.
3. Running Torch and TensorFlow in parallel (legacy model constraints that Cog struggled with).
The answer to that question is likely this acquisition.
The standalone AI middleware market is precarious; the landscape shifts too fast and technical founders will eventually outgrow the training wheels.
Folding into Cloudflare gives the team a sustainable home to leverage the platform's scale, rather than competing solely on a container abstraction layer.
Wish them the best. Cloudflare’s infrastructure is likely the right environment to turn this into a high-leverage product
It's less obvious why Cloudflare want Replicate.
As for the price:
> Replicate has raised $52.5M in funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator and Sequoia Capital, with last known valuation of $350M [2023]
It would be interesting to know how much hype there is in valuations since 2023. I assume it's mostly vesting options because I doubt Cloudflare has the cash to throw around. I would guess $500M valuation but I could be off by a lot.
Replicate is joining Cloudflare - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45953702 - Nov 2025 (68 comments)
What was the value of the transaction?
Replicate is joining Cloudflare
Because a lot of money was transferred from Cloudflare's bank account to the bank accounts of the stockholders of Replicate?
Why Replicate is joining Cloudflare? Because you paid money to acquire it. Why the fuck else? Ffs.
Maybe when the AI overlords take over Cloudflare will be our last bastion of defense. :D