Dave Wehner, who spent more than a decade at Meta overseeing its financial strategy, has announced his departure to take the chief financial officer position at Fireworks, an artificial intelligence inference platform. The move comes as Fireworks gears up for a funding round that could value the company at $30 billion or higher, a significant jump from its $17.5 billion valuation recorded in July.
Wehner's tenure at Meta spanned 14 years, beginning in 2012 when he joined as vice president of corporate finance and business planning. He ascended to the CFO role in 2014 and transitioned into chief strategy officer in 2022 before announcing his departure on Friday. The Information broke the news of his move that same evening.
In a post on X, Wehner explained his decision: "Fireworks has the right mission for the moment." He also expressed confidence in Meta's trajectory while highlighting his long-standing relationship with Fireworks chief executive Lin Qiao and his desire to rejoin a founder-driven organization.
I see AI as the most consequential technology shift of my lifetime. I'm excited to get to work and help build a business at the center of it.
Dave Wehner
Lin confirmed Wehner's appointment to CNBC, noting that his role will encompass scaling both the company's financial operations and broader organizational infrastructure. She also shared the announcement through LinkedIn on Friday.
Dave told me he wanted to get back to a smaller company where he could build toward a big impact again.
Lin Qiao
Javier Olivan, Meta's chief operating officer, issued a statement acknowledging Wehner's contributions during his time at the social media giant.
Dave helped guide Meta through tremendous growth and complexity over 14 years, and brought disciplined thinking to some of our hardest company-level decisions.
Javier Olivan
Fireworks' trajectory and funding ambitions
Fireworks emerged in 2022 from founders with backgrounds at Meta and Google. The company operates a platform enabling developers to customize and deploy open-source AI models tailored to their specific business requirements. Its most recent funding round, completed in July, brought in $1.5 billion and established the company's valuation at $17.5 billion. That round featured backing from Atreides Management, Index Ventures, and TCV, with additional support from Nvidia and Sequoia Capital.
Multiple reports have surfaced regarding Fireworks' upcoming capital raise. Business Insider disclosed in October that preliminary discussions were underway for a round targeting a valuation between $30 billion and $40 billion. The Information has now reported that Fireworks intends to launch its new funding round the following week, with sources indicating a minimum valuation target of $30 billion. Europa Now has not independently confirmed either report.
Fireworks joins a cohort of inference-focused startups securing substantial funding recently. Fal reached a $16 billion valuation, while Baseten has announced plans for its own significant funding round.
Wehner's career before Meta
Prior to his time at Meta, Wehner served as CFO of Zynga and held a position as managing director at investment bank Allen & Co. He also maintains a seat on the board of Aurora Innovation, a company developing autonomous driving technology for commercial trucks.
Source: The Next Web
