In its oversubscribed Series A-3 investment round, Rivos, a RISC-V accelerated platform business that focuses on data analytics and Generative AI, has successfully secured more than $250 million. Matrix Capital Management, the biggest investor in this round, represented by Romit Shah, has joined the Board of Directors. With significant funding, Rivos can tapeout its first silicon offering and expand its manufacturing, platform hardware, software engineering, and support capabilities to meet growing client demand.
Rivos is speculating on the demand from artificial intelligence users who may not need the most expensive and powerful hardware available from firms such as NVIDIA to run their IT applications. Target clients for the business include those working on Generative AI (GenAI) and data analytics.
Rivos was one of the first companies to work on developing an open ecosystem for RISC-V. To meet the demands of modern software programming models and rack server limitations, Rivos offers power-optimized chips that combine high performance server-class RISC-V CPUs with a Data Parallel Accelerator, a GPGPU intended for large language models (LLMs) and data analytics. For today’s models and databases that need terabytes of memory, the close integration of CPU and parallel computing sharing a uniform memory across DDR DRAM and HBM can be critical.
The fundraising was made possible by the involvement of new investors such as Intel Capital, MediaTek, Cambium Capital, CIDC, Capital TEN, and Hotung Venture Group. Additionally, the participation of previous investors Walden Catalyst, Dell Technologies Capital, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and VentureTech Alliance was enhanced.
“Data must flow between the CPU and accelerator fluidly, and accelerators must be simple to develop and debug given the quick changes in LLMs and the integration with the data analytics stack,” said Puneet Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Rivos. “With our recompile-not-redesign methodology, Rivos meets this demand. I’m appreciative of Matrix’s endorsement of this strategy and happy to have Romit join the Board.”
This financial success comes soon after Rivos and Apple reached a deal. Apple had previously sued Rivos, claiming that the latter had stolen trade secrets related to computer chip technology.
The RISC-V Software Ecosystem Project
“Rivos soon became an active participant in the community,” said Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International. “Because of the breadth of expertise possessed by the Rivos developers, RISC-V has advanced significantly in terms of ISA, system, and security standards. Regarding software, Rivos was one of the driving forces behind the RISC-V Software Ecosystem (RISE) project.”
Since its founding in May 2021, Rivos claims to have amassed a top-notch team of platform, software, and semiconductor designers. Leading financial and strategic investors support the company’s long-term goal of developing RISC-V-based, workload-defined hardware to provide industry-leading server solutions that are secure, high-performance, and power efficient.
Rivos provides the complete solution of optimized chips combining RISC-V CPUs and a Data Parallel Accelerator, a reference multi-chip OCP modular server, and a full firmware-to-application open software stack to support the demanding requirements of the large language models and data analytics that will remake the enterprise. Workloads from customers would quickly be implemented utilizing their current models, resulting in a TCO advantage.
David Goel, Managing General Partner of Matrix Capital Management, stated: “Expanding the application of data analytics and large language models to encompass not just traditional data types such as text, images, and video, but also genomic and medical data, unlocks unprecedented opportunities for innovation in research and treatment. This ambition has been successfully realized by the Rivos team via their skillful integration of an innovative accelerator with the ground-breaking revolutionary RISC-V architecture. Few firms have been able to do what their prototype chip does, which is a powerful evidence of their exceptional ability to use the cutting-edge TSMC 3nm manufacturing node. We look forward to continuing to assist the business as it enters new markets and celebrates each victory with a sense of unity and dedication to quality.”
With its main office located in Santa Clara, California, Rivos is a multidisciplinary engineering business that is now hiring engineers from the USA, UK, EU, and Asia.
