AI chip startup SambaNova valued at $11 billion in $1 billion funding round

BlackRock, Inc.
Intel Corporation
Jpmorgan Chase

BlackRock, Inc.

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Intel Corporation

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Jpmorgan Chase

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- AI chip startup SambaNova said on Wednesday it has raised $1 billion in a late-stage funding round led by General Atlantic at an $11 billion post-money valuation.

The company makes custom chips, hardware systems and cloud services tailored for inference - the process by which models respond to user queries.


Here are some details:

  • The Series F round included significant investment from Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price Associates and Capital Group.

  • New and existing investors include A&E Investment, Assam Ventures, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock BLK.N, Intel Capital INTC.O and the Qatar Investment Authority.

  • SambaNova said it will use the proceeds to expand capacity, scale deployments worldwide and continue investing across chips, systems, software and full-stack AI infrastructure for customers.

  • The company also said JPMorgan Chase JPM.N has selected it as an inference infrastructure partner, deploying its SN40 and SN50 systems for AI inference.

  • In February, SambaNova raised $350 million to fund the expansion of its SN50 AI chip, and struck a partnership with Intel to deliver cheap inference solutions for AI-native companies.

  • The partnership involved a $35 million Intel investment in SambaNova, which received U.S. antitrust clearance in May after acquisition talks between the companies stalled.

  • In April, a Reuters review of corporate records showed Intel had planned to invest another $15 million in SambaNova, which would increase Intel's ownership of SambaNova to 9%.

  • SambaNova did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the current size of Intel's stake and its contribution to the Series F round.

  • In April 2021, the company raised $676 million in a funding round led by SoftBank Group's 9984.T Vision Fund 2, valuing the company at more than $5 billion.