Sources: Naveen Rao’s new AI hardware startup targets $5B valuation with backing from a16z (techcrunch.com)

Naveen Rao, former head of AI at Databricks and serial ML founder (MosaicML, Nervana), is launching a hardware startup called Unconventional, Inc. and is in talks to raise up to $1 billion at a roughly $5 billion valuation. Andreessen Horowitz is said to be leading the round with Lightspeed and Lux Capital participating; Databricks is also reported to be an investor. Rao has already secured “hundreds of millions” and plans to begin building the product before the full round closes, using a tranched funding approach. He describes the mission as “rethinking the foundations of a computer” to achieve “brain-scale efficiency without the biological baggage,” signaling an ambition to deliver much higher compute efficiency for AI workloads. The venture is significant because it explicitly targets Nvidia’s dominance by combining custom silicon with purpose-built server infrastructure — a full-stack, co-designed AI machine rather than a drop-in chip. If successful, this could materially lower training/inference costs, reshape data-center architectures, and force changes in ML software stacks and supply chains. However, the plan is capital- and execution-intensive: chip design, systems integration, and ecosystem adoption are high-barrier problems. The large VC backing and Rao’s track record make the bet notable, but timelines, benchmarks, and software compatibility will determine whether Unconventional can credibly challenge GPU-centric incumbents.