Based out of Bristol, UK, Graphcore is a semiconductor company that develops accelerators for AI and machine learning. Recently, the company has raised $150 million (approx €135 million) in new capital to secure a position as the leading pure-play machine intelligence AI processor company.
The funding has been supported by leading financial asset managers, growth equity funds, and investment trusts. It includes new investors Baillie Gifford, Mayfair Equity Partners, and M&G Investments alongside existing investors such as Merian Chrysalis.
This brings the total investment in Graphcore to date to over $450 million (approx €406 million), with the most recent valuation at $1.95 billion (approx €1.76 billion). As per the company claims, 2019 was a transformative year for Graphcore as they moved from development to a full commercial business with volume production products shipping.
As of now, the company holds over $300 million (approx €270 million) in cash reserves to support the company’s continuing, major R&D investment and global expansion.
For the uninitiated, Graphcore Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) hardware and Poplar software, let innovators create next-generation machine intelligence solutions. The IPU is the first processor to be designed specifically for Machine Intelligence.
Nigel Toon, Graphcore Chief Executive Officer, said:
We were pleased to publicly announce our close partnership with Microsoft in November 2019, jointly announcing IPU availability for external customers on the Azure Cloud, as well as for use by Microsoft internal AI initiatives. In addition, we announced the availability of the DSS8440 IPU Server in partnership with Dell Technologies and the launch of the Cirrascale IPU-Bare Metal Cloud. We also announced some of our other early access customers, which include Citadel Securities, Carmot Capital, and Qwant, the European search engine company.
Main image picture credits: Graphcore
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