Six reasons why startups and at-scale cloud native companies build their GenAI Apps with Azure

Microsoft

Sep 03, 2024

Startups and at-scale, born-in-the-cloud companies are at the forefront of bringing unique GenAI use cases to life across various industries and use cases. GenAI models have opened unprecedented opportunities for startups to differentiate themselves through creativity and efficiency. However, the success of these AI-driven initiatives heavily relies on the underlying cloud services and infrastructure. As startups embark on their journey to build groundbreaking AI use cases, selecting the right cloud provider is even more crucial. A reliable cloud platform not only offers the scalability, security, and performance needed to deploy AI models effectively but also provides access to advanced tools and services that accelerate innovation.

Azure has evolved as a platform of choice for many startups including Perplexity and Moveworks, as well as at-scale companies today. Here are six reasons why we see companies of all sizes building their GenAI apps on Azure OpenAI Service.

Flexible Deployment Options
Azure OpenAI Service offers a high level of deployment flexibility that meets the diverse needs of startups and founders. Whether you prefer the simplicity of pay-as-you-go or the dedicated performance of provisioned throughput units (PTUs), Azure provides tailored options to fit your business model. With recent improvements, including a 400% performance boost for Provisioned Throughput, Azure delivers increased speed and efficiency, allowing your company to scale operations seamlessly. Read more about various deployment options here.
Global Scalability
Azure OpenAI Service stands out with its extensive global availability, covering more regions than any other cloud provider. This widespread reach ensures that your AI models are accessible wherever your customers are, providing a consistent and reliable experience. Azure’s optimized latency enhancements facilitate rapid deployment across multiple regions, helping you stay ahead of global demand and maintain proximity to your customers.
Continuous innovation and built to scale: Azure OpenAI is the only platform which offers reliable access to GPT-4o, GPT4 of GPT 3.5 models globally and with content safety, so that founders can build scalable applications responsibly. Azure’s investments in global capacity led to significant performance and cost improvements, including a 400% increase in PTU performance and a 20% reduction in the cost of GPT Text compared to Gemini Text. Azure OpenAI Service remains a comprehensive platform, offering GenAI tools that help companies innovate, grow, and succeed.
High Performance and Cost Efficiency
Azure OpenAI Service delivers high performance and cost-effective solutions, backed by industry-leading service-level agreement (SLAs). Offering a 99% latency SLA and a 99.9% uptime SLA. This ensures exceptional reliability and uptime. With Azure OpenAI GPT-4o available at up to 20% less cost than competing models like Gemini Text, Azure provides value through flexible pricing models such as PTU self-service and Azure Reservations. This approach helps companies manage budgets effectively while optimizing their AI investments. Review pricing here.
Access to Advanced AI Models
Azure OpenAI Service is committed to providing access to the latest flagship models from OpenAI including GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini and the latest version with structured outputs (GPT-4o-2024-08-06). With over 1,600 models from top providers such as Meta, Mistral or Cohere and Microsoft’s own Phi family, Azure helps companies leverage cutting-edge AI capabilities while maintaining transparency and cost efficiency. All startups can now customize these models with fine tuning capabilities available today on Azure platform.
Seamless, Efficient AI Development
Azure is a complete platform for developers and data scientists to build their GenAI apps. Azure OpenAI Service and other models enhance your AI development with a seamless integration with other Azure services. The Azure AI Studio, with its integrated toolchain including GitHub, AI Search, and databases, enables faster development, testing, and deployment of AI applications. Any developer can build a simple webapp right out of AI Studio, use AI Search or our partner solutions such as Pinecone for vector database and use globally scalable database such as PostgreSQL, SQL Server or Cosmos DB to deploy massively scalable applications. Some founders may chose to deploy using our Azure Kubernetes Service and build on container apps or use any open source frameworks available on Azure. With recent improvements in provisioned throughput, it provides up to 400% better performance, ensuring your solutions reach the market quickly and efficiently.

Customer Inspiration

Azure OpenAI Service provides a robust toolset for Gen AI, offering flexibility in deployment, global scalability, high performance, cost efficiency, and access to advanced AI. These strengths help startups and at-scale companies thrive in a competitive landscape. With over 60,000 customers already leveraging Azure AI for impactful outcomes, it’s evident that Azure is a valuable choice for companies looking to lead in AI innovation.

A New Podcast

Want to go deeper? Check out our new podcast on the advantages of Azure OpenAI Service.