Temasek, Franklin Templeton lead $71m series D round of AI startup

Artificial intelligence startup Blaize has announced the close of a US$71 million series D round of funding led by Temasek and Franklin Templeton. Denso and other new and existing investors also participated in the round.

Dinakar Munagala, cofounder and CEO, Blaize/ Photo credit: Blaize

Blaize would use fresh funds to accelerate the product roadmap and scale up its business of providing computing solutions to sectors such as automotive, mobility, and retail. The startup also plans to rapidly expand its Hyderabad operations in the next 12 to 18 months.

Last year, Blaize built a multi-year pipeline for computing hardware and software products with customer opportunities in the US, Europe, Japan, and Asia. In India, it is eyeing agriculture, healthcare, and smart city initiatives.

The US-headquartered startup plans to strengthen its talent base in India by hiring engineers and AI technology experts across functions including hardware design, software development, verification, research, and customer services.

Besides, the US and India, the company has its operations in the Philippines and the UK.

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“Automotive, and numerous edge AI markets, such as retail and metro, hold tremendous potential for Blaize to expand on their early market position as the adoption of AI at the edge accelerates, creating a new wave of industrial systems,” said J P Scandalios, senior vice president and portfolio manager, Franklin Templeton.