Fractile raises $720 million at $7 billion valuation

Fractile has raised $720 million in a Series C funding round at a reported $7 billion valuation, as the UK-backed startup develops artificial-intelligence chips aimed at speeding up model responses. The financing includes investment through the UK’s Sovereign AI Fund and the British Business Bank, according to reports on the round and the government’s account.

Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Lightspeed and Redpoint led the round, Fractile said. Other reported investors include CapitalG, BlackRock, DST Global and Balderton. Reuters reported the $7 billion valuation citing a person involved in the deal; the company confirmed the funding amount and lead investors. The valuation is up from roughly $1 billion in May, when Fractile raised about $220 million.

The London- and Bristol-based company is designing chips for inference, the stage when trained AI models generate responses or carry out tasks. Its proposed architecture stacks dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, with processing logic in a three-dimensional design intended to ease the data-transfer bottlenecks that can limit computing performance.

Fractile says its design could provide higher memory bandwidth and improve speed,...