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- Upscale AI
Upscale AI Valuation, Funding & Investors
Upscale AI is valued at $2B as of June 2026.
Last Upscale AI valuation
$2B
Series A · Jun 2026
Last Upscale AI funding round
$190M
Series A · Jun 2026
Cumulative funding Upscale AI raised
$490M
across 3 funding rounds
Key investors in Upscale AI
Mayfield Fund
StepStone Group
Maverick Silicon
Tiger Global
Qualcomm Ventures
Premji Invest
About Upscale AI
Upscale AI is a high-performance networking company delivering full-stack solutions for AI clusters. Santa Clara-headquartered, it provides Ethernet switches and NICs optimized for GPU interconnects in NVIDIA DGX systems. Upscale's RDMA over Ethernet supports 400Gbps ports for hyperscale data centers. Deployed by cloud providers in Asia, it scales to 10,000-node fabrics.
Founded
2025
HQ
Website
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Product sales
Valuation
$2B (Jun 2026)
Upscale AI Valuation
Upscale AI is currently valued at $2B, based on its Series A in June 2026.
The $190M round was led by Premji Invest, with participation from Temasek, Seligman Ventures, NVIDIA, Salesforce Ventures, StepStone Group and 4 other investors.
Upscale AI's valuation has grown 2.0x from $1B at its seed round in September 2025 to $2B in June 2026, across 3 priced rounds.
Upscale AI valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | Series A | $2B |
| Jan 2026 | Series A | $1B |
| Sep 2025 | Seed | $1B |
Upscale AI Funding History
Upscale AI has raised a total of $490M across 3 funding rounds.
Upscale AI's first fundraising round was a $100M seed round in September 2025. The most recent completed round was a $190M Series A in June 2026.
Upscale AI funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | Series A | Premji Invest (lead); Temasek; Seligman Ventures; NVIDIA; Salesforce Ventures; StepStone Group; Prosperity7 Ventures; Maverick Silicon; Tiger Global; Mayfield Fund | $190M | $2B | Upscale AI, a Santa Clara-based startup specializing in AI networking infrastructure, raised $190 million in a Series A-1 extension round on June 22, 2026, bringing its total funding to $500 million and elevating its valuation to $2 billion USD. The round was led by Premji Invest, the investment arm of Indian billionaire Azim Premji, with new participants including Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Temasek, and Seligman Ventures, alongside existing backers Maverick Silicon, Mayfield, Prosperity7 Ventures, StepStone Group, and Tiger Global. Strategically, Upscale AI aims to become the next Cisco by providing ultra-low-latency networking infrastructure for massive AI clusters, addressing critical bottlenecks in AI training, inference, and generative AI workloads across mixed suppliers and memory pools. The company, founded by Barun Kar, focuses on enabling expensive accelerators to work together efficiently across ultra-large clusters without traffic congestion, positioning itself as a key player in the AI data center networking layer. Earlier in January 2026, the company secured $200 million in its initial Series A round led by Tiger Global, Premji Invest, and Xora Innovation. Financial terms were not disclosed. |
| Jan 2026 | Series A | Premji Invest (lead); Tiger Global (lead); Xora Innovation (lead); Qualcomm Ventures; StepStone Group; Prosperity7 Ventures; Maverick Silicon; Intel Capital; Mayfield Fund | $200M | $1B | Upscale AI, a Santa Clara-based pure-play AI networking infrastructure company founded in 2025, develops full-stack platforms spanning silicon, systems, and software to interconnect heterogeneous AGI systems, including technologies like SkyHammer for high-radix switches within racks and UEC for connecting racks in AI clusters up to 1 million chips. The company supports open standards such as UALink and addresses scaling challenges in AI systems by improving interconnect efficiency for hyperscalers and AI infrastructure operators. Upscale AI announced an oversubscribed $200 million Series A funding round on January 21, 2026, led by Tiger Global, Premji Invest, and Xora Innovation, with participation from Intel Capital, Maverick Silicon, Mayfield Fund, Prosperity7 Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and StepStone Group, bringing total funding to over $300 million including a prior $100 million seed round. The post-money valuation reached $1 billion, achieving unicorn status shortly after inception. Proceeds from the Series A will fund rapid expansion of engineering, sales, and operations teams as Upscale AI transitions to commercial deployment, with networking solutions and first SkyHammer products slated to ship in 2026. The company reports strong early traction amid a projected $100 billion annual market for AI networking by decade's end. CEO Barun Kar emphasized re-architecting networking for the AI era, supported by endorsements from industry figures like AMD's Robert Hormuth on fostering open ecosystems. Upscale AI positions itself as a leader in open, scalable AI networking alternatives, differentiating through turnkey platforms optimized for performance and economics in large-scale AI clusters. Investors highlighted the strategic importance of collaboration in AI infrastructure, with Premji Invest's Sandesh Patnam noting interconnect efficiency as a key driver. |
| Sep 2025 | Seed | Maverick Silicon (lead); Mayfield Fund (lead); Qualcomm Ventures; StepStone Group; MVP Ventures; Stanford University; Xora Innovation; Cota Capital; AIspace Ventures; Celesta Capital | $100M | $1B | Upscale AI is a pure-play AI networking infrastructure company developing full-stack solutions including silicon, systems, and software for ultra-low latency interconnects tailored to AI workloads such as training, inference, generative AI, edge computing, and cloud-scale deployments. Launched from stealth in September 2025 with a $100 million seed round co-led by Maverick Silicon and Mayfield Fund, with participation from AIspace Ventures (via Xora), Celesta Capital, Cota Capital, MVP Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Stanford University, and StepStone Group, the company targets the $20+ billion AI networking market by championing open standards like UALink to challenge incumbents like Cisco and Broadcom. Four months later, in January 2026, Upscale AI closed an oversubscribed $200 million Series A round led by Tiger Global Management, Premji Invest, and Xora Innovation, with participation from Maverick Silicon, StepStone Group, Mayfield, Prosperity7 Ventures, Intel Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures, bringing total funding to over $300 million. The Series A propelled the company to unicorn status with a post-money valuation exceeding $1 billion. Funds will expand engineering, sales, and operations teams, advance the SkyHammer platform, and support commercial shipments starting in 2026. The company reports strong early traction with hyperscalers and AI infrastructure operators seeking scalable, open networking alternatives, backed by endorsements from AMD and a world-class team experienced in prior computing shifts. Upscale AI positions itself to capture a slice of the projected $100 billion annual AI networking market by decade's end through partnerships and open ecosystems. |
Who has invested in Upscale AI?
18 investors have backed Upscale AI across its funding rounds, including Mayfield Fund, StepStone Group, Maverick Silicon, Tiger Global, Qualcomm Ventures and Premji Invest.
Lead investors include Premji Invest, Tiger Global, Xora Innovation, Maverick Silicon and Mayfield Fund.
Upscale AI Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Participant | Sep 2025 | ||
| 3 | Lead | Sep 2025 | ||
| 3 | Lead | Sep 2025 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Sep 2025 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Jan 2026 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Jan 2026 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Sep 2025 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Jan 2026 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Jun 2026 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Jun 2026 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Jun 2026 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Jun 2026 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2025 | ||
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Start Free TrialUpscale AI Competitors
Upscale AI competitors include listed companies like Eastern Communications and Browave, and private ones like Photonic, SemiDrive, Rebellions and Enflame.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | - | - | $2B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1.9B | - | ||
| Private | $23M | - | $2.3B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1.7B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $369M | $65M | $2B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $70M | $19M | $1.9B | 26.2x |
Upscale AI Public Comps
Upscale AI is still privately-owned, but its public comps include China Marine Information, Preformed Line Products, SharonAI, Eastern Communications, Browave, Jezetek, Silex Microsystem, FS.com, IQM Quantum Computers and Hytera Communications.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $527M | $44M | 3.4x | 3.5x | 41.0x | - | |||
| $669M | $68M | 3.0x | 2.6x | 29.5x | 20.1x | |||
| $2M | ($36M) | 752.3x | 13.7x | (32.7x) | 46.2x | |||
| $369M | $65M | 4.6x | - | 25.9x | - | |||
| $70M | $19M | 26.8x | 26.2x | 96.3x | 89.2x | |||
| $613M | $50M | 3.2x | - | 38.8x | - | |||
| $141M | $49M | 12.3x | - | 35.5x | - | |||
| $442M | $125M | 4.0x | - | 14.1x | - | |||
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Common questions about Upscale AI
| When was Upscale AI founded? | Upscale AI was founded in 2025. |
| Where is Upscale AI headquartered? | Upscale AI is headquartered in San Jose, CA, United States. |
| Is Upscale AI publicly listed? | No, Upscale AI is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Upscale AI's valuation? | Upscale AI was last valued at $2B in its Series A in June 2026. |
| How much funding has Upscale AI raised? | Upscale AI has raised $490M across 3 funding rounds. |
| What was Upscale AI's last funding round? | Upscale AI's last funding round was a $190M Series A in June 2026, led by Premji Invest. |
| Who are Upscale AI's investors? | Upscale AI's investors include StepStone Group, Maverick Silicon, Mayfield Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, Prosperity7 Ventures, Premji Invest, Xora Innovation, Tiger Global, Temasek, Seligman Ventures and 8 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Upscale AI? | Companies comparable to Upscale AI include Photonic, SemiDrive, Rebellions, Enflame, Eastern Communications and Browave. |
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