AI chipmaker Graphcore attracts funding to the tune of £164m as global investors back Bristol-based unicorn
- Bristol-based Graphcore was begun in 2016 by Simon Knowles and Nigel Toon
- Its latest funding round was led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pensions Plan Board
- Back in July, the business released its latest-generation AI chip, the GC2000
Semiconductor maker Graphcore has announced it has raised another $222million (£164million) from investors in a funding round that values the company at nearly $2.8billion.
It is the largest amount of money the group has received in a fundraising round, surpassing the $200million it raised in December 2018 from investors such as Microsoft, BMW and early Apple investor Sequoia Capital.
The Bristol-based unicorn firm, which designs chips for use in artificial intelligence, has now raised over $710million since it was set up four years ago by Simon Knowles and Nigel Toon.
Graphcore manufactures intelligence processing units for use in artificial intelligence
In its latest round, funding was led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pensions Plan Board and included Fidelity International and Schroders along with existing Graphcore investors like Tesla backer Baillie Gifford and venture capital group Draper Esprit.
Graphcore said it would use the money to enhance its technology – known as intelligence processing units (IPU) – that is customised to AI developers and are sold through partners such as Microsoft and Dell to utilise in various industries.
Toon believes the newest investors ‘bring to the table deep experience in disruptive technology and support for scale-up businesses and underscore the size of the market opportunity that Graphcore is addressing in datacentre AI compute, as well as the maturity of the company’s product offerings.
‘Having the backing of such respected institutional investors says something very powerful about how the markets now view Graphcore.’
Back in July, the chipmaker released its latest-generation AI chip, the GC2000, and the M2000 IPU system to run the chip, which it purports to be eight times faster than the previous model and is being shipped in volume to customers.
AI technology requires a considerable level of computing power to operate. Graphcore’s products are designed to cope with that demand, but they also act as a competitor to rival businesses that manufacture graphics processing units (GPUs).
Graphcore was founded by Nigel Toon (L) and Simon Knowles (R) in Bristol in 2016
A recent paper co-written by the company, the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst and Facebook found that IPUs performed better than GPUs, which technology giant Nvidia and Cambridge-based ARM Holdings design.
”The market for purpose-built AI processors is expected to be significant in the coming years because of computing megatrends like cloud technology and 5G…and we believe Graphcore is poised to be a leader in this space,’ said Olivia Steedman of the Ontario Teachers’ Union.
‘TIP focuses on investing in tech-enabled businesses like Graphcore that are at the forefront of innovation in their sector. We are excited to partner with Nigel and the strong management team to support the company’s continued growth and product development.’
Artificial Intelligence technology requires a considerable level of computing power to operate
Nvidia and ARM were the subject of takeover talks earlier this year when the former bought the latter from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group for £23.4billion. The deal is currently being assessed by regulators.
ARM’s co-founder Hermann Hauser lobbied the government to shut down the takeover on national interest grounds. He also believes it would be a disaster for Cambridge as jobs would then leave the city should its headquarters transfer overseas.
Instead, he suggested that Softbank divest from ARM, float on the London Stock Exchange, and receive financial backing from the UK government.