AI Chip Startup Groq Nears $600M Funding Round at $6B Valuation

Nvidia AI chip challenger Groq said to be nearing new fundraising at $6B valuation | TechCrunch

AI chip startup Groq is in talks to raise a fresh $600 million at a near $6 billion valuation, sources tell Bloomberg, although the deal isn't yet final and terms could change. Groq raised $640 million at a $2.8 billion valuation in November 2024, making this double the valuation in about nine months. Groq previously raised about $1 billion. The new round is led by Austin-based firm Disruptive, Bloomberg reports. The November round was led by Blackrock, with participation from Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund. Groq was founded by Jonathan Ross, who previously worked at Google developing its Tensor Processing Unit chip. The startup emerged from stealth in 2016. This new raise comes after Groq announced in May an exclusive partnership with Bell Canada to power the telco's large AI infrastructure project. In April, Groq partnered with Meta to offer AI infrastructure to speed Llama 4 inference. Neither Disruptive nor Groq immediately returned our request for comment.

AI chip startup Groq is in talks to raise $600M at a $6B valuation

This new funding round would see the company's valuation nearly double in just one year, following a $2.8 billion valuation in August 2023 Groq, an AI chip startup founded by former Google employee Jonathan Ross, is reportedly in discussions to secure $600 million in new funding. This round would value the company at nearly $6 billion, although the deal remains subject to change. The potential funding marks a significant increase in Groq's valuation. In August 2023, the company raised $640 million at a valuation of $2.8 billion. Prior to that, Groq had raised approximately $1 billion. The current negotiations suggest a near doubling of its valuation in roughly one year. According to Bloomberg, the latest funding round is reportedly being led by Disruptive, an Austin-based firm. A previous funding round in November was spearheaded by BlackRock. Other participants in the earlier round included Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund, demonstrating broad investor interest in Groq's technology. In May, Groq revealed an exclusive collaboration with Bell Canada to support the telecommunication company's extensive AI infrastructure initiative. Before that, in April, Groq partnered with Meta to provide AI infrastructure designed to accelerate Llama 4 inference.