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Naveen Rao

InvestorUnicorn founder

Founder & CEO at Unconventional AI · Advisor at Databricks Ventures · Craft Advisory Board at Craft Ventures · Founder at Mosaic ML · Board director at Beacon

Incline Village, Nevada, United States

FoundedUnconventional AI$4.5BMosaic ML

Find your path to Naveen

970 people in our graph share verified history with Naveen — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Viviana FagaunlockedNaveen: together at Unconventional AI (2026)
×3Naveen: together at Unconventional AI
×2Naveen: together at Mosaic ML
Naveen: together at ITG

About

Naveen Rao is CEO of Unconventional AI. He previously co-founded Nervana, a company focused on developing hardware optimized for artificial intelligence workloads. Rao has a background in neuroscience and processor architecture, and has worked as an entrepreneur and investor in the AI sector.

Founder at Mosaic ML

Intro paths

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In turn, Naveen can intro founders to Mosaic ML's investors below.

Mosaic ML's investors · 9

Bright Pixel CapitalLisbon · since 2021Correlation VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $4M checks · since 2021DCVC (Data Collective)Palo Alto · $5M – $25M checks · since 2021Future VenturesLos Altos · $1M – $10M checks · since 2021Inspired CapitalNew York · $500K – $20M checks · since 2021Lux CapitalNew York · $100K – $100M checks · since 2021Maverick VenturesSan Francisco · $3M – $10M checks · since 2021Playground GlobalPalo Alto · $1M – $20M checks · since 2021The E14 FundCambridge · $1M – $5M checks · since 2021

Co-founders at Mosaic ML

HTHanlin Tang
Hanlin TangDirector

Board director at Beacon

Intro paths

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In turn, Naveen can intro founders to Beacon's investors below.

Beacon's investors · 10

Alumni VenturesManchester · $100K – $10M checks · since 2025Casdin CapitalNew York · since 2021Catalio Capital Management, LPNew YorkGeneral CatalystSan Francisco · $30M checks · since 2021GV (Google Ventures)Mountain View · $250K – $50M checks · since 2025Iaso VenturesCambridgeIndicator VenturesNew York · $1M – $3M checksKicker VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $1M checksLightspeed Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $1.7M – $87M checksSamsung NextSan Jose · $100K – $5M checks

Co-founders at Beacon

JA
Jacob A. Donoghue, M.D., Ph.D.Executive Officer, Director
JAJacob A. Donoghue
Jacob A. DonoghueExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
JDJacob Donoghue
Jacob DonoghueCEO & Co-Founder
JRJarrett Revels
Jarrett RevelsCTO & Co-Founder

Founder & CEO at Unconventional AI

Intro paths

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In turn, Naveen can intro founders to Unconventional AI's investors below.

Unconventional AI's investors · 14

Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2025Bezos Earth Fundsince 2025Databricks VenturesSan Francisco · since 2025DCVC (Data Collective)Palo Alto · $5M – $25M checks · since 2025Decibel PartnersMenlo Park · $100K – $10M checksFelicis VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $15M checksFuture VenturesLos Altos · $1M – $10M checks · since 2025GreycroftNew York · $100K – $5M checksLightspeed Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $1.7M – $87M checks · since 2025Lux CapitalNew York · $100K – $100M checks · since 2025Playground GlobalPalo Alto · $1M – $20M checks · since 2025Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks · since 2025The E14 FundCambridge · $1M – $5M checksWingPalo Alto · $200K – $20M checks

Co-founders at Unconventional AI

MLMeeLan Lee
MeeLan LeeFounder
MCMichael Carbin
Michael CarbinFounder

Experience

  1. Unconventional AI[un]CEOcurrent2025 — present
  2. DatabricksAdvisorcurrent2025 — present
  3. DatabricksVice President of Artificial Intelligence2023 — 2025San Francisco Bay Area
  4. Allen InstituteScientific advisory boardcurrent2019 — presentGreater Seattle Area
  5. Beacon BiosignalsBoard Membercurrent2019 — present
  6. NeuRealityBoard membercurrent2020 — presentIsrael
  7. Luminous ComputingBoard Member2022 — 2024Santa Clara, CA
  8. MosaicMLCEO and co-founder2021 — 2023United States
  9. SquareBoard Member2017 — 2020San Francisco Bay Area
  10. Intel CorporationCorpVP and General Manager of Artificial Intelligence Products Group2017 — 2020Santa Clara, CA
  11. Intel CorporationVice President and General Manager (Intel acquisition)2016 — 2017San Diego, California
  12. NervanaCEO and Co-founder of Nervana2014 — 2016Greater San Diego Area
  13. QualcommResearcher - neuromorphic machines2012 — 2014San Diego and Massachusetts
  14. ITGAssistant Vice President2011 — 2012Greater Boston Area
  15. Brown UniversityPostdoctoral research associate in Neuroscience2011
  16. W&W Communications (acquired by Cavium networks)Principal Engineer2005 — 2008Mountain View, CA
  17. W&W Communications ( WWComs )Principal Engineer2005 — 2007
  18. Sun MicrosystemsStaff Engineer2004 — 2005
  19. Kealia, Inc.Design and Verfication Engineer2002 — 2004
  20. Caly NetworksDesign and Verification Engineer1999 — 2002
  21. Teragen CorporationDesign and Verification Engineer1998 — 1999
  22. Sun MicrosystemsVerification Engineer1997 — 1998
  23. IBMIntern1996

Skills & more

Matlab48C++13C9Microsoft Office3ExcelJava4AnalysisAlgorithms77Neuroscience61Programming24Statistics18System Design3
+12 moreScienceOptimizationRTL designResearchEngineeringComputer ScienceLifesciencesArchitectural ModelingModelingApplied MathematicsLife SciencesTeaching

From Naveen's professional profile.

Investments

Investor

Atum Works

Per curated public sources.

Colleagues at Databricks Ventures

Alex Laterza
Advisor at Exceptional Ventures
Ali Ghodsi
Co-founder & CEO of Databricks
Andrew Krioukov
Founder and General Partner at Laude Ventures
Andy Kofoid
President, Databricks at Smith Point Capital
Andy Konwinski
Founder and General Partner at Laude Ventures
Ankit Mathur
Scout at Greylock Partners
Arsalan Tavakoli
Investor at Foundation Capital
Christina Farhat
Investor at E14 Fund

Frequently asked questions

Who is Naveen Rao?
Naveen Rao is CEO of Unconventional AI. He previously co-founded Nervana, a company focused on developing hardware optimized for artificial intelligence workloads. Rao has a background in neuroscience and processor architecture, and has worked as an entrepreneur and investor in the AI sector.
Where does Naveen Rao work?
Naveen Rao is Founder & CEO of Unconventional AI and Advisor at Databricks Ventures and Founder at Mosaic ML and Board director at Beacon.
What companies did Naveen Rao found?
Naveen Rao founded Unconventional AI, Mosaic ML.
What companies has Naveen Rao invested in?
Investments tracked here include Atum Works.
Where did Naveen Rao go to school?
Naveen Rao studied at Brown University (PhD, Neuroscience); Stanford University (Electrical Engineering); Duke University (BSEE, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science).

Founder mafias

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