Groq joined the Unicorn Club on April 14, 2021, after raising a $300 million Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management, D1 Capital Partners, and BlackRock. Headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, Groq builds high-performance AI inference hardware and platforms designed for consistent, predictable performance at scale.
Its offerings include GroqCloud, a platform for AI inference, and GroqRack, an on-premise inference cluster tailored for data centers. The company’s custom-built LPU (Language Processing Unit) architecture enables low-latency, deterministic performance for demanding workloads in AI and high-performance computing.
Keep reading to learn how Groq became a $2.8B leader in AI infrastructure and edge inference computing.
What Is Groq and What Does It Do?
Founded in 2016, Groq specializes in designing hardware and systems optimized for AI inference rather than training. Its custom LPUs deliver consistent throughput and minimal variance, critical for production-scale AI and large language model deployment.
Groq’s ecosystem integrates hardware, software, and cloud-based inference tools to help enterprises deploy, scale, and monitor AI workloads efficiently, both on-premise and in the cloud.
How Much Funding Has Groq Raised?
1. Series E Round
- Amount Raised: $750 million
- Date: September 17, 2025
- Purpose: Expand AI inference clusters, enhance GroqCloud capabilities, and scale global operations
2. Series C Round
- Amount Raised: $300 million
- Date: April 14, 2021
- Lead Investors: Tiger Global Management, D1 Capital Partners, BlackRock
Total Funding Raised: ~$1.75 billion
Latest Funding Date: September 17, 2025
Latest Known Valuation: ~$2.8 billion
Employee Count: 288 (as of December 31, 2023)
Key Investors
1. Tiger Global Management
- Details: Investment firm backing high-growth technology and AI infrastructure startups worldwide.
- Focus Areas: AI infrastructure, cloud computing, semiconductors.
2. D1 Capital Partners
- Details: Global investment firm supporting late-stage tech and enterprise software companies.
- Focus Areas: High-performance computing, data infrastructure, enterprise AI.
3. BlackRock
- Details: Global asset management firm investing across AI, cloud, and hardware innovation.
- Focus Areas: AI acceleration, data centers, semiconductor technology.
4. equitywestsecurities.com
- Details: Technology-focused investment platform participating in high-impact AI and hardware funding rounds.
- Focus Areas: AI platforms, hardware startups, growth-stage infrastructure.
5. Disruptive
- Details: Growth equity firm focused on breakthrough companies in the AI and semiconductor sectors.
- Focus Areas: AI infrastructure, advanced computing, and chip design.
Where Is Groq’s Headquarters?
Groq is headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, where it develops, tests, and scales its proprietary LPU hardware and AI inference solutions.
What’s Next for Groq?
Groq is building out global data center partnerships and expanding its GroqCloud services to support low-latency inference for enterprise-scale AI workloads. The company is also refining its hardware to improve energy efficiency and scalability across generative AI and machine learning applications.
With a growing ecosystem of developers and enterprise clients, Groq continues to shape the future of AI inference and high-performance computing.
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