UK-based machine intelligence technology developer Graphcore secured $50m in a series C round yesterday featuring subsidiaries of industrial product manufacturer Bosch, electronics producer Samsung and computer vendor Dell.
Robert Bosch Venture Capital (RBVC), Samsung Catalyst Fund and Dell Technologies Capital invested alongside Sequoia Capital, which led the round, as well as Amadeus Capital Partners, Atomico, C4 Ventures, Draper Esprit, Foundation Capital and Pitango Venture Capital.
Graphcore has created a processor it calls an intelligence processing unit (IPU), which has been specifically designed for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Together with a proprietary software development platform called Poplar, the technology enables machine intelligence applications to run more efficiently and lowers the cost of operating AI technology in the process.
The company was spun out of chipmaker Xmos, itself a spinout of University of Bristol, in June 2016. It expects to begin shipping its IPUs in early 2018 and will use the series C funds to scale up production efforts.
The capital will also allow Graphcore to attract developers to Poplar, and to boost the resources of its US customer support team. Matt Miller, partner at Sequoia Capital, will join the company’s board of directors.
Samsung Catalyst Fund, RBVC and Dell Technologies Capital also took part in a $30m series B round for Graphcore in July 2017 that was led by Atomico and also backed by Amadeus, C4, Draper Esprit, Foundation Capital, Pitango and assorted angel investors.
RBVC had previously led the company’s $30m series A round in November 2016, with participation from Samsung Catalyst Fund, Amadeus, C4, Draper Esprit, Foundation Capital and Pitango.