Positron, a rapidly expanding semiconductor startup based in Reno, just raised a phenomenal $230 million in Series B financing. This major milestone had been kept under wraps until now. This historic investment gives Positron the ability to compete tooth and nail with big incumbents like Nvidia. It provides the company a strong footing in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence chip space. Rebecca Bellan, a senior reporter at TechCrunch, had the exclusive on the funding. She focuses on the business of, policy around and emerging trends in AI.
The Series B funding round comes after Positron raised $75 million last year, indicating robust investor confidence in the startup’s potential. Landmark investors are making a big move into this latest round. Among these are Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, DFJ Growth, Flume Ventures and Resilience Reserve. Those pioneers are placing their bets on Positron’s disruptive technology as well as the company’s capacity to produce high-performance chips fabbed in Arizona.
For instance, Positron’s flagship product, the Atlas chip, is designed to directly compete with Nvidia’s H100 GPUs. In performance terms, the Atlas chip is stunning even by the standard set by its rival from Nvidia. Best of all, it uses less than a third of the energy! This energy efficiency makes Positron the obvious choice for companies seeking an attractive and high-performing alternative for their AI workloads. Industry analysts agree that Positron’s chips shine in high-frequency and video-processing applications. This flexibility in capability makes them ideal for a broad range of advanced applications.
Rebecca Bellan’s reporting of this newly emerging story proves again her deep and abiding knowledge of the space. She is a regular contributor to national outlets, including Forbes, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast. If you’d like to discuss opportunities with her, you can contact her directly at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or, they can message me securely on Signal at that same handle.