Graphcore Systems - About the company
Graphcore Systems is an acquired company based in Bristol (United Kingdom), founded in 2016 by Nigel Toon and Simon Knowles. It operates as a Manufacturer of hardware and software for machine learning processing tasks. Graphcore Systems has raised $742M in funding from investors like Atomico, Sequoia Capital and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, with last known valuation of $2.8B. The company has 298 active competitors, including 126 funded and 25 that have exited. Its top competitors include companies like Groq, Cerebras and Lightmatter.
Sectors and market segments that Graphcore Systems operate in
Graphcore Systems serves in the High Tech, Native AI, Semiconductors market segments.The primary business model of Graphcore Systems are:Company Details
Manufacturer of hardware and software for machine learning processing tasks. This business produces specialized processors and software tools designed to accelerate artificial intelligence computations. The hardware architecture supports natural language processing and speech recognition applications. These products facilitate the development of machine learning models by providing the necessary computational infrastructure for complex data analysis.
- Website
- www.graphcore.ai/
- Email ID
- *****@graphcore.ai
- Phone Number
- +44 **********
- Registered Address
- 11-19 Wine Street, BRISTOL BS1 2PH
Key Metrics
Founded Year
2016
Location
Bristol, United Kingdom
Stage
Acquired
Total Funding
$742M in 7 rounds
Latest Funding Round
Last Known Valuation
$2.8B as on Dec 29, 2020
Ranked
5th among 298 active competitors
Annual Revenue
£50M - £100M as on Mar 31, 2025
Employee Count
733 as on Jun 30, 2026
Exit Details
Acquired by SoftBank Group (Jul 12, 2024)
Legal entities associated with Graphcore Systems
Graphcore Systems is associated with 4 legal entities given below:
Legal Entity Name | Date of Incorporation | Revenue | Latest Employee Count | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
GRAPHCORE LTD CIN: 924962011 , Norway, Active | May 16, 2016 | - | - | |
GRAPH AI SERVICES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED CIN: U62099TS2024FTC190149 , India, Active | Oct 14, 2024 | 0 - ₹10 Cr (As on Mar 31, 2025) | - | |
GRAPHCORE AS CIN: 918638458 , United States, Active | Jan 31, 2017 | - | - | - |
Graphcore Limited CIN: 10185006 , United Kingdom, Active | May 16, 2016 | £50M - £100M (As on Mar 31, 2025) | 266 (As on Dec 31, 2019) |
Graphcore Systems's acquisition details
Graphcore Systems got acquired by SoftBank Group on Jul 12, 2024.
Click here to take a look at Graphcore Systems's acquisition in detail
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Graphcore Systems's funding and investors
Graphcore Systems has raised a total funding of $742M over 7 rounds. Its first funding round was on Aug 01, 2016. Its latest funding round was a Series E round on Dec 29, 2020 for $222M. 5 investors participated in its latest round. Graphcore Systems has 67 institutional investors and 9 angel investors.
Here is the list of recent funding rounds of Graphcore Systems:
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Date of Funding | Funding Amount | Round Name | Post-Money Valuation | Revenue Multiple | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 29, 2020 | $222M | Series E | - | - | ||
Jan 15, 2020 | $161M | Series D | - | - | ||
2019 | Undisclosed | Series D | - | - | - |
View details of Graphcore Systems's funding rounds and investors
Graphcore Systems' founders and board of directors
Founder? Claim ProfileThe founders of Graphcore Systems are Nigel Toon and Simon Knowles. Nigel Toon is the CEO of Graphcore Systems.
Here are the details of Graphcore Systems' key team members:
- Nigel Toon: Co-Founder & CEO of Graphcore Systems. They serve on the board of 1 company.
- Simon Knowles: Co-Founder of Graphcore Systems. They serve on the board of 1 company.
Graphcore Systems' Board of Directors
Graphcore Systems's board has 7 active members. Matt Miller, Hongquan Jiang, David Jeffrey Richardson, Nigel Toon and Simon Knowles are part of team and Siraj Rashid Khaliq and Eyal Zalman Niv are independent board members.Here is the list of Graphcore Systems' board of directors:
Name | Type | Representing | Status | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | - | Current | 10y 1m | |
Team | - | Current | 10y 1m | |
Team | - | Past | 3y 7m | |
Investor | - | Current | 8y 8m | |
Investor | - | Current | 10y 1m | |
Investor | - | Current | 5y 3m | |
Investor | - | Past | 3y 7m | |
Independent board member | - | Current | 9y 0m | |
Independent board member | - | Current | 9y 7m | |
Independent board member | - | Past | 2y 9m |
View details of Graphcore Systems's Founder profiles and Board Members
Graphcore Systems' employee count trend
Graphcore Systems has 733 employees as of Jun 26. Here is Graphcore Systems's employee count trend over the years:
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Graphcore Systems's Competitors and alternates
Top competitors of Graphcore Systems include Groq, Cerebras and Lightmatter. Here is the list of Top 10 competitors of Graphcore Systems, ranked by Tracxn score:
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Rank | Company Details | Short Description | Total Funding | Investors | Tracxn Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | Groq 2016, Mountain View (United States), Series E | Provider of AI inference platforms and on-premise AI inference clusters | $2.4B | 72/100 | |
2nd | Cerebras 2015, Sunnyvale (United States), Public | Provider of high-performance AI infrastructure and wafer-scale computing solutions | $2.82B | 72/100 | |
3rd | Lightmatter 2017, Boston (United States), Series D | Developer of photonic interconnects and co-packaged optics for AI infrastructure | $850M | 70/100 | |
4th | Ambarella 2004, Santa Clara (United States), Public | Manufacturer of AI-enabled image processors | $15.4M | 69/100 | |
5th | Graphcore Systems 2016, Bristol (United Kingdom), Acquired | Manufacturer of hardware and software for machine learning processing tasks | $742M | 68/100 | |
6th | Celestial AI 2020, Santa Clara (United States), Acquired | Developer of optical interconnect technology for artificial intelligence infrastructure systems | $589M | 68/100 | |
7th | Black Sesame Technologies 2016, Pudong (China), Public | Developer of AI-based chips for machine vision tasks | $500M | 67/100 | |
8th | Ayar Labs 2015, San Jose (United States), Series E | Developer of optical interconnect solutions for artificial intelligence infrastructure applications | $872M | 66/100 | |
9th | Axelera AI 2021, Eindhoven (Netherlands), Series C | Manufacturer of hardware accelerators and software for artificial intelligence inference | $450M | 66/100 | |
10th | SiMa.ai 2018, San Jose (United States), Series C | Developer of hardware and software platform for physical artificial intelligence | $355M | 66/100 |
Looking for more details on Graphcore Systems's competitors? Click here to see the top ones
Graphcore Systems's Investments and acquisitions
Graphcore Systems has made no investments or acquisitions yet.
Reports related to Graphcore Systems
Here is the latest report on Graphcore Systems's geography:
News related to Graphcore Systems
Media has covered Graphcore Systems for a total of 8 events in the last 1 year, 4 of them have been about company updates and 1 about people movement.
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SoftBank invests $450M in AI chip firm GraphcoreBreaking The News•May 12, 2026•SoftBank Group, Graphcore Systems
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SoftBank's Graphcore plans $1.3 billion chip investment in IndiaStartupNews•Oct 09, 2025•Graphcore Systems, SoftBank
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Molten Ventures hails M-Files exit and Riverlane fundraiseShareprices•Aug 14, 2024•Molten Ventures, Perkbox, Endomag, Graphcore Systems and 1 other
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SoftBank buys UK-based AI chipmaker GraphcoreSeeking Alpha•Jul 12, 2024•SoftBank Group, Graphcore Systems, SoftBank, Morrison & Foerster and 1 other
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Graphcore deal with SoftBank edges closer as it preps financesProactive•May 23, 2024•Graphcore Systems, SoftBank
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SoftBank looking to buy UK AI chip designer Graphcore, reportComputing•May 08, 2024•SoftBank Group, Graphcore Systems, SoftBank
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Unable to bear it anymore, the 18 billion unicorn is ready to sell itselfPencilNews•Feb 21, 2024•Graphcore Systems
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OpenAI Eyes Acquisition of UK-Based AI Chipmaker for IPU TechnologyCryptopolitan•Feb 19, 2024•Graphcore Systems, OpenAI, Arm, SoftBank Group and 2 others
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