Ontario Teachers’ Pension Leads Series E in Graphcore
Posted on 12/30/2020
Bristol, UK-based Graphcore Limited is maker of the Intelligence Processing Unit, which is a new type of microprocessor specifically designed to support artificial intelligence workloads.
Graphcore has raised US$ 222 million in a Series E funding round that values the company at US$ 2.77 billion post-money. The new investment will be used to support the company’s continued global expansion and to further accelerate future IPU silicon, systems, and software development. Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) led the round with participation from funds managed by Fidelity International and Schroders, along with existing Graphcore investors including Baillie Gifford and Draper Esprit. This investment brings the total funds raised by Graphcore to more than US$ 710 million, with the company expecting to have over US$ 440 million of cash on hand post-closing to support future growth.
The company’s Mk2 IPU products were unveiled in 2020 and are now shipping in production volume to customers. In 2019, the Graphcore generated US$ 10,084,000 in sales with a net loss of US$ 81,903,000.
Advisors
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP provided legal advice to Graphcore.
Investors include:
Ahren Innovation Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, Atomico, Baillie Gifford, BMW iVentures, C4 Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, Draper Esprit, Fidelity International, Foundation Capital, Chrysalis Investments (formerly Merian Chrysalis), Mayfair Equity Partners, M&G Investments, Microsoft, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Pitango, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Schroders / Schroder Adveq, Sequoia Capital, and Sofina.