AI chip startup Groq is reportedly in discussions to secure a new round of funding amounting to $600 million, with a valuation nearing $6 billion. This update, as reported by Bloomberg, is not yet finalized and the terms may still undergo changes.
Previous Financial Backing and Key Investors
In August 2024, Groq successfully raised $640 million, achieving a valuation of $2.8 billion. This latest funding round marks a significant doubling of the company’s valuation in just a span of a year. Groq has previously secured approximately $1 billion in funding.
The upcoming round of funding is being spearheaded by Disruptive, a firm based in Austin, according to sources at Bloomberg. In a previous funding round held in November, BlackRock took the lead, with additional contributions from Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund.
Background and Recent Partnerships
Groq was established by Jonathan Ross, who had formerly been involved in the development of Google’s Tensor Processing Unit chip. The startup made its debut in 2016 after operating in stealth mode.
In recent developments, Groq announced an exclusive collaboration with Bell Canada in May to bolster the telco’s expansive AI infrastructure project. Additionally, in April, the company joined forces with Meta to provide AI infrastructure for optimizing Llama 4 inference processes. At the time of reporting, neither Disruptive nor Groq had responded to requests for comment.
Please note that there was a correction made regarding the initial report of the date of the last funding round.
