Saturday, 4 October, 2025
Naveen Rao Launches AI Hardware Startup with $5B Valuation Ambitions
Former Databricks AI head Naveen Rao is forming a startup named Unconventional, Inc. to reinvent computing for AI. He’s in talks to raise $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation, with leading investment from a16z and contributions from Lightspeed and Lux Capital. Rao plans a “brain-scale” architecture combining custom silicon and infrastructure to challenge Nvidia’s dominance.
Read full story at TechCrunch