AI chip startup Groq is in advanced discussions to raise around $600 million in a new funding round, potentially valuing the company close to $6 billion, sources told Bloomberg. However, the deal is not finalized, and terms may still shift.
Rapid Growth and Past Funding
Last August, Groq raised $640 million at a $2.8 billion valuation, meaning its valuation could more than double in just under a year. To date, the company has raised approximately $1 billion in total funding.
The upcoming round is reportedly led by Austin-based investment firm Disruptive. The previous round in November 2024 was led by BlackRock, with participation from investors such as Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund.
Background and Strategic Partnerships
Groq was founded by Jonathan Ross, formerly a key developer on Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chip, and emerged from stealth mode in 2016.
Recently, Groq announced an exclusive partnership with Bell Canada in May to power the telecommunications company’s large-scale AI infrastructure project. In April, Groq also partnered with Meta to accelerate inference workloads for Llama 4 AI models.
Author’s Opinion
Groq’s rapid valuation increase and high-profile partnerships underscore the escalating race for specialized AI chips designed to handle demanding machine learning tasks. While the valuation surge highlights strong investor confidence, the market remains highly competitive with major players like Nvidia and Google advancing their own AI hardware. Success for Groq will depend not only on its cutting-edge technology but also on its ability to secure and scale strategic collaborations in this fast-evolving sector.
Featured image credit: Roboflow Univers
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