Naveen Rao, the former head of artificial intelligence at Databricks, is beginning a new chapter in his career. Since then, he’s been building his startup, Unconventional, Inc. Rao spent more than two years leading developer relations at Databricks, a company worth over $100 billion today with an estimated $4 billion in annual recurring revenue. Last month, he stepped down from that post to concentrate on this new, cool initiative.
The unconventional company Unconventional, Inc. has larger ambitions — rethinking computing entirely and creating a powerful new kind of computer. The startup’s mission is to “rethink the foundations of a computer to build a new substrate for intelligence that is as efficient as biology,” according to Rao. He believes that it is possible to achieve “Brain Scale Efficiency without the biological baggage!”
Rao has recently closed on $300M for Unconventional, Inc. Now, he intends to jump start development immediately, without waiting for the execution of an entire $1 billion funding round. This strategy projects both confidence in the startup’s potential and urgency in advancing its groundbreaking vision.
The investment climate for Unconventional, Inc. could hardly be better. Rao is currently in the midst of negotiating a $1 billion investment at a current $5 billion valuation. Andreessen Horowitz will be leading the round. Prior investors Lightspeed and Lux Capital are participating in the round.
Rao is the cofounder of MosaicML, which was acquired by Databricks for $1.3 billion in 2023. His track record in the tech industry speaks to his capacity to execute on big vision projects.
Last week, he went to X to introduce freedom.ai. He described the immense promise of Unconventional, Inc.
“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.” – Naveen Rao
It’s safe to say that the tech community is looking closely. In short, Unconventional, Inc. is preparing to find its unique voice within a booming new world of computing technology and artificial intelligence.