Nvidia AI Chip Challenger Groq Nears $6B Valuation in New Fundraising Round

Groq, an AI chip startup, is in talks to raise $600 million at a near $6 billion valuation, nearly doubling its valuation in nine months. The new round is led by Disruptive, while the November round was led by Blackrock. Groq was founded by Jonathan Ross, a former Google engineer, and has partnerships with Bell Canada and Meta. The startup offers AI infrastructure to speed inference.

AI chip startup Groq Inc. is in advanced talks to raise $600 million in a new funding round, which would give the company a valuation of nearly $6 billion, according to sources cited by Bloomberg [1]. This significant increase in valuation comes just nine months after Groq raised $640 million at a $2.8 billion valuation in November 2024 [2].

The latest funding round is being led by Austin-based venture capital firm Disruptive, with the firm committing more than $300 million to the deal [2]. The previous round, led by BlackRock Inc., saw participation from several prominent investors including Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund [1].

Groq's rapid growth is driven by its innovative AI infrastructure solutions, which allow customers to run AI models from the data center of their choice. The startup has recently partnered with Bell Canada and Meta to power large-scale AI projects, further solidifying its position in the market [1].

Jonathan Ross, the founder of Groq, previously worked at Google developing the Tensor Processing Unit chip. His expertise has been pivotal in Groq's development of high-performance AI chips [1].

The funding round is notable for its size and the valuation it implies. It brings Groq's total cash haul to over $2 billion and doubles its valuation from the previous round [2]. The increased funding will likely support Groq's expansion and further development of its technology.

For more information on the company and its recent developments, visit Groq's official website.

References:
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/29/nvidia-ai-chip-challenger-groq-said-to-be-nearing-new-fundraising-at-6b-valuation/
[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-29/ai-chip-startup-groq-nears-600-million-fundraising-deal