Naveen Rao, a former Vice President of AI at Databricks, has embarked on an ambitious new venture named Unconventional, Inc. This ambitious startup plans on making a third kind of computer, with a promise to revolutionize the very underpinnings of the computing world. Though Rao recently departed from Databricks, last month marked the official beginning of that exciting new chapter. He’s currently dedicated to producing technology that can mimic the efficiency found in nature.
Rao spent over two and a half years at Databricks. While there, he was instrumental in pioneering the company’s exceptional growth, taking the company public at a $100 billion valuation with over $4 billion in annual recurring revenue. His credentials in the world of AI are truly remarkable. He was previously phenomenally successful with MosaicML, a startup that Databricks bought for $1.3 billion in mid-2023.
Unsen marketed the platform after Unconventional, Inc. had already raised hundreds of millions in follow-on funding. They want to deploy their technology as soon as possible, even before that larger $1 billion funding round is done. Interestingly, well-known investor Andreessen Horowitz is set to lead the funding round, with participation from Lightspeed and Lux Capital.
The vision for Unconventional, Inc. is ambitious. Rao stated, “I’ve gotten a new company off the ground. It’s a big swing…rethinking the foundations of a computer to build a new substrate for intelligence that is as efficient as biology. Brain Scale Efficiency without the biological baggage! We CAN do it.” His mission is to develop a new paradigm in computing. This groundbreaking technology has the potential to change the way we think about developing intelligence in our tools and vehicles.
Rao will be on stage at Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco on October 27-29, 2025. He’ll be telling us all about his groundbreaking project and what it means for the future of AI hardware.