– USA, CA – SambaNova Systems, a Palo-Alto-based startup developing next-generation computing platforms to power machine learning and data analytics applications, today emerged from stealth and announced $56 million in Series A funding led by Walden International and GV with participation from Redline Capital and Atlantic Bridge Ventures.
Lip-Bu Tan, Chairman of Walden International and CEO of Cadence Design (NASDAQ: CDNS), will assume the role of Chairman of the Board for SambaNova, and Dave Munichiello, General Partner at GV, will join the company’s board of directors.
SambaNova’s next-generation computing platform relies on simultaneous breakthroughs in both hardware and software, reimagining the underlying infrastructure for machine-learning-based applications across an enterprise. Founded in 2017 based on technology from Stanford University Professors Kunle Olukotun and Chris Ré, and led by CEO Rodrigo Liang, former Senior Vice President of Processor Development at Oracle, the company’s underlying technology is largely based on DARPA-funded research from the two professors on efficient processing for artificial intelligence.
The SambaNova team brings decades of experience pioneering new approaches in machine learning, artificial intelligence, multi-core processor technology, parallel software, and database systems. Professor Kunle Olukotun is well known for pioneering multi-core research culminating in the Niagara processor architecture. Chris Ré’s work in database theory, database systems, and machine learning has been recognized at PODS 2012, SIGMOD 2014, and ICML 2016 and with a MacArthur Genius Award. The joint work by Kunle and Chris on converged analytics has recently won several awards.
“The computing industry is going through a transition with the rapid growth of machine learning and data analytics and we are excited about the opportunities that our technology will create for our partners to develop and deploy the next generation of intelligent applications. We have exposed our technology to some of the world’s largest companies across different industries and we are excited about the broad applicability of our technology from enterprise to the edge,” said Rodrigo Liang, CEO & Co-founder of SambaNova.
“SambaNova’s innovations in machine learning algorithms and software-defined hardware will dramatically improve the performance and capability of intelligent applications. The flexibility of the SambaNova technology will enable us to build a unified platform providing tremendous benefits for business intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics,” said Professor Kunle Olukotun, Co-founder and Chief Technologist of SambaNova, known as the “father of the multi-core processor”, who recently won the prestigious IEEE Computer Society’s Harry H. Goode Memorial Award.
“SambaNova has gathered a dream team of Stanford professors, PhDs and industry veterans who profoundly understand how to cooperatively optimize AI applications, machine learning algorithms, systems software, hardware architecture, and silicon implementation to create a new platform for intelligent applications with exceptional capabilities,” said Lip-Bu Tan, Chairman of Walden International.
“The market for dedicated AI hardware continues to experience exponential growth, and this team uniquely understands how critical adaptability and flexibility are for ever-evolving artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches,” said Dave Munichiello, General Partner at GV. “Other platforms have been designed for AI and machine learning techniques that exist today. SambaNova’s software-defined infrastructure anticipates and supports a rapidly-evolving ecosystem. We firmly believe that over time this computing approach will lead the industry in distributed machine learning and data analytics infrastructure.”
SambaNova will use the investment to grow its world-class team of machine learning software and high-performance hardware engineers, as well as accelerate the build-out of its computing platform to deliver unprecedented performance on machine learning and big data analytics applications.
About SambaNova Systems
SambaNova Systems has developed a disruptive next-generation computing platform to power machine learning and data analytics. The company was founded in 2017 based on technology from Stanford University Professors Kunle Olukotun and Chris Re, along with Rodrigo Liang, former Senior Vice President of Processor Development at Oracle. The company’s investors include Walden International, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Redline Capital, Atlantic Bridge Ventures, and several others. SambaNova is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
For more information: https://www.sambanovasystems.com
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