CEO Spotlight Interview
Enabling High-Throughput AI Inference on Edge Devices
Behnam Bastani, CEO & Co-Founder, OpenInfer
Co-Founder Background
Behnam Bastani has spent his career building complex compute orchestration systems at companies like Meta, Roblox, and Google. He saw firsthand the limitations of cloud-first AI systems and delivered and scaled systems that leveraged edge resources to reduce costs and improve performance. Those hard-won successes became the foundation for OpenInfer — a company built with one mission in mind: to bring enterprise intelligence to every surface.
“We started OpenInfer with those successes in mind, to bring enterprise intelligence to every surface.”
“I saw firsthand the limitations of cloud-first AI systems — and the successes that came from leveraging edge resources to reduce costs and improve performance.”
The Founding of OpenInfer
OpenInfer was founded by Behnam Bastani after years of witnessing the ceiling of cloud-first AI infrastructure. At Meta, Roblox, and Google, he built and scaled complex compute orchestration systems that pushed intelligence closer to the edge — reducing costs and unlocking performance that centralized cloud architectures simply couldn't match. The pattern was clear: the future of enterprise AI wasn't in the cloud alone. It was local, distributed, and deeply integrated into the systems where work actually happens. OpenInfer was built to make that future a reality for every enterprise.
The Problems Being Solved with Local-First AI Inference
Enterprises today want AI that is powerful, but they cannot afford to compromise on data privacy, compliance, or cost. OpenInfer's system of agents enables intelligence to run on local infrastructure, where it learns from real workflows and integrates deeply into enterprise systems. This gives customers the ability to analyze their data, automate complex tasks, and collaborate more effectively — without sending sensitive information to external clouds.
“Enterprises cannot afford to compromise on data privacy, compliance, or cost — and now they don't have to.”
By running intelligence on local infrastructure rather than routing data through external clouds, OpenInfer gives regulated industries the control, compliance, and trust they require. The platform learns from real workflows and integrates deeply into existing enterprise systems — making AI not just powerful, but safe to deploy in the environments where the stakes are highest.
A Future-Forward Partnership: OpenInfer and Tau Ventures
Behnam values Tau's focus on mission-driven founders and the strong network and community they have built. He looks forward to tapping into the Tau community to exchange insights, explore opportunities, and bring local-first AI into regulated industries where control, compliance, and trust are critical.