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Jonathan Ross

Unicorn founder

Founder at Groq Inc

San Jose, CA

FoundedGroq Inc$6.9B

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About

Jonathan Ross invented Google's TPU as a 20% project, founded Groq in 2016 to break the AI inference bottleneck with the LPU — and in December 2025 Nvidia paid a reported $20 billion to license Groq's technology and hire Ross and his leadership team. A high-school dropout who talked his way into NYU's Courant Institute (taking PhD-level courses under Yann LeCun before dropping out again), he built the TPU from a nights-and-weekends accelerator into the chip behind AlphaGo, worked at Google X's Rapid Evaluation team, and grew Groq to a $6.9 billion valuation with landmark inference deals across Saudi Arabia and Canada before the Nvidia deal.

Beyond investing

Founded
Co-founded Groq in 2016 with fellow Google X alum Douglas Wightman to commercialize a from-scratch inference chip, the LPU.
Education
Dropped out of high school, then out of NYU's Courant Institute — where he was the first CS undergrad allowed into PhD-level courses, studying under Yann LeCun.
More
Started Google's TPU as a 20% project in 2013 after overhearing the speech team's compute complaints; it deployed to production in ~15 months and later powered AlphaGo. The December 2025 Nvidia deal — a ~$20B non-exclusive license plus the hiring of Ross and president Sunny Madra — reportedly came together in a three-week phone negotiation and drew antitrust scrutiny from lawmakers. Groq's February 2024 viral near-instant chat demo transformed the company's trajectory — Ross called it 'a game changer'. Under Ross, Groq became the exclusive inference provider for Bell Canada's sovereign AI network and anchored Saudi Arabia's $1.5B inference build-out with Aramco Digital and HUMAIN.

Mentioned above: the Google mafia →

From en.wikipedia.org · kisacoresearch.com · fortune.com · the-ai-corner.com · newswire.ca — common ground for a warm intro.

Founder at Groq Inc

Intro paths

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In turn, Jonathan can intro founders to Groq Inc's investors below.

Groq Inc's investors · 81

1789 CapitalPalm Beach · since 2025Access Ventures (New York)New YorkAcequia Capital (AceCap)Seattle · $100K – $5M checksAdditionNew YorkAltimeter CapitalMenlo Park · $1M – $25M checks · since 2025Alumni VenturesManchester · $100K – $10M checksAxiom PartnersSan FranciscoB CapitalBanca Investis — Family OfficeMilanBasecamp FundManchester · $100K – $10M checksBeyond CapitalSan DiegoBlackRockNew York · since 2025Blast.Club$5.5M checksBlueYard CapitalBerlin · $500K – $5M checksCambium CapitalHighlandCard Sound CapitalDenverCastor VenturesChamath Palihapitiyasince 2017Cisco InvestmentsSan Jose · since 2025Cleo CapitalNew York · $100K – $1M checksConversion CapitalSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checksDisruptiveDallas · since 2026E1 VenturesSan FranciscoElefundMountain ViewEniac VenturesNew York City · $1.2M checksFirebolt Ventures Management Company, LlcPalo AltoFirestreak VenturesGarage CapitalWaterlooGlobal BrainTokyo · $100K checksGood CapitalMt. PleasantID8 InvestmentsNew YorkIn-Q-TelTysons · $100K – $2.5M checksIneffable VenturesStamfordInflection VenturesNew YorkIntegra GroupeMenlo Park · $100K – $200K checksInvestopadIronArc VenturesAustinJuniperoMiamiKDDI Open Innovation FundLa FamigliaBerlinLauder PartnersLos AltosLobby CapitalPalo AltoLvna CapitalMiamiMaiora Rebel VenturesMana VenturesEsteroManhattan Venture PartnersNew YorkManhattan WestLos AngelesMaropost VenturesTorontoMenlo VenturesSan Francisco · $1M – $20M checksMighty CapitalSan FranciscoModi VenturesHoustonMorgan Creek CapitalChapel Hill · $1M – $5M checksNearingpoint Venture Partners Inc.TorontoNeuberger BermanChicago · since 2025NJF CapitalLondonNVIDIASanta Clara · since 2026OkeanosWashingtonOpen Field CapitalNew YorkOurCrowdJerusalemRace CapitalPalo Alto · $250K – $2M checksRiverbend CapitalWashingtonSampac Tech FundPalo AltoSamsung Catalyst FundSan JoseSocial Capital PartnershipPalo Alto · since 2016Spider CapitalSan Francisco · $500K checksStrategxy Ventures LLCBeverly Hills · $1M – $5M checksStratMindsSan FranciscoStrawberry Creek VenturesManchesterTDK VenturesSan Jose · $5M checksThirdbaseNew YorkTiger Global ManagementNew York · $1M – $100M checks · since 2021Transpose Platform ManagementSan FranciscoTrousdale VenturesWest Hollywood · $1M – $5M checksType One VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checksU First CapitalSilicon ValleyUncork CapitalSan Francisco · $3M – $5M checksVaranium Capital AdvisorsMumbaiVentioneers CapitalOakvilleVisionaries ClubBerlin · $900K checksVitalStage VenturesSan FranciscoXTX MarketsBristol

Co-founders at Groq Inc

DW
Douglas WightmanFounder

Experience

  1. NVIDIAChief Software Architectcurrent2025 — present
  2. groqceo + founder2018 — 2025
  3. groqcto + founder2016 — 2018
  4. X, the moonshot factoryrapid evaluator2015 — 2016San Francisco Bay Area
  5. Googlehardware engineer - started tpu effort2013 — 2015Madison, Wisconsin Area
  6. GoogleSoftware Engineer2011 — 2013Greater New York City Area
  7. Pacmid LLC.Head of Research & Development2009 — 2011New York, United States

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross, Groq

David Senra Podcast · davidsenra.com

With Groq, Jonathan Ross is taking AI inference to new speeds

Masters of Scale · mastersofscale.com

NVIDIA vs Groq: The Future of Training vs Inference

20VC · thetwentyminutevc.com

Frequently asked questions

Who is Jonathan Ross?
Jonathan Ross invented Google's TPU as a 20% project, founded Groq in 2016 to break the AI inference bottleneck with the LPU — and in December 2025 Nvidia paid a reported $20 billion to license Groq's technology and hire Ross and his leadership team. A high-school dropout who talked his way into NYU's Courant Institute (taking PhD-level courses under Yann LeCun before dropping out again), he built the TPU from a nights-and-weekends accelerator into the chip behind AlphaGo, worked at Google X's Rapid Evaluation team, and grew Groq to a $6.9 billion valuation with landmark inference deals across Saudi Arabia and Canada before the Nvidia deal.
Where does Jonathan Ross work?
Jonathan Ross is Founder of Groq Inc.
What companies did Jonathan Ross found?
Jonathan Ross founded Groq Inc.
Where did Jonathan Ross go to school?
Jonathan Ross studied at New York University (Honors Mathematics and Honors Computer Science).
What podcasts and interviews feature Jonathan Ross?
Tracked appearances include "Jonathan Ross, Groq", "With Groq, Jonathan Ross is taking AI inference to new speeds", "NVIDIA vs Groq: The Future of Training vs Inference".

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