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

July 8 (Reuters) – 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, Intel Capital 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 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 Vision Fund 2, valuing the company at more than $5 billion.

(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)