Generative AI Compute Platform D-Matrix Raises $110M Series B

Generative AI chip designer D-Matrix closed a $110 million Series B led by Singapore-based Temasek.

The startup designs chips to run generative AI applications more efficiently by using less energy to do the extraordinary amount of compute necessary for AI processing.

Other investors in the new round include Playground Global, M12, Nautilus Venture Partners, Entrada Ventures, Industry Ventures, Ericsson Ventures, Marlan Holding, Mirae Asset, Cortes Capital, Archerman Capital, TGC Square, Lam Capital and Samsung Ventures.

“The team at D-Matrix is changing the cost economics of deploying AI inference with a compute solution purpose-built for LLMs, and this round of funding validates our position in the industry,” said co-founder and CEO Sid Sheth.

Chips and cash

Despite the need for new and better chips, money has not poured into U.S.-based startups this year. According to Crunchbase data, such startups raised nearly $1.9 billion last year.

However, this year domestic chip startups have raised less $600 million to date.

Generative AI tech could change all that. While the large generative AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic have garnered most of the headlines, investors see opportunity in the infrastructure layer that supports those platforms.

That layer can include anything from chips and enhanced compute to unique data sets to help with modeling. Startups such as CoreWeave, which provides GPU-accelerated compute solutions, and Pinecone, which creates vector databases, have raised big money contributing to the foundation layer of AI.

D-Matrix, founded in 2019, has raised $154 million, per Crunchbase. Its last raise was a $44 million Series A in April of last year.