Founder & CEO at Runware
Flaviu Radulescu
Former CTO, Bigstep. Built bare-metal big data clusters for Vodafone, Booking.com, TFL. Managed 100+ person tech teams.
Questions & Answers
What's the story behind your company?
It started in 2022 with the launch of PicFinder, the first real-time image generator that made AI image creation as fast as searching for one. While other services took 30+ seconds to generate an image, we got it down to under a second—without cutting corners on quality. The key was our Sonic Inference Engine®, a custom-built hardware and software stack designed from the ground up for AI workloads. As demand grew, people kept asking if they could use the same tech for their own projects. That’s what led to Runware—making this technology available to everyone through a fast, affordable, and flexible API.
What sets you apart from others in your industry?
We built everything from the ground up—hardware, software, and infrastructure—so we’re not just running AI models, we’re optimizing every layer for speed, flexibility, and cost. Most providers rent GPUs and run models. We design custom inference clusters, write proprietary CUDA kernels, and use elastic orchestration for peak efficiency. Powered by renewable energy, our costs are nearly zero, letting us offer the fastest AI media generation at the lowest price. We also give users full control. With 300K+ models, exclusive partnerships, and an API that mixes and matches technologies in a single request, we go beyond rigid, pre-made endpoints. The result? 5–10x lower costs, 1600+ images for $1, and the fastest inference speeds anywhere. We can batch-generate images faster than others can produce a single one. No one else comes close.
Why are you excited about your company/product?
We’re excited because AI should be an advantage, not a burden—and right now, for most companies, it’s the opposite. SaaS and B2C content apps need AI to stay competitive, but the costs and complexity are spiraling out of control. Expensive GPUs, a shortage of AI talent, and the constant evolution of AI models make it nearly impossible to keep up. With Runware, we’re changing that. We handle the infrastructure, optimization, and AI operations so companies don’t have to. That means they can focus on what they do best—building great products—while we make sure their AI is fast, affordable, and always up to date. What excites us the most is seeing what people build on top of our technology and how it shapes the future—not just for today, but for the next generations.
