Bengaluru-based semiconductor startup Agrani Labs is in talks to raise about $100 million (around ₹950 crore) to build AI inference chips, with Groww founders’ new Stargazer fund, Google, Peak XV Partners and 360 One among the likely investors, Moneycontrol reported on 3 November 2026. The round would value the company at $300–350 million, people aware of the talks said.

The deal is not yet final. If it closes, it would be one of the largest rounds in India’s deeptech ecosystem, alongside companies such as Pixxel, Skyroot Aerospace and Sarvam AI.

What Agrani Labs is building

Agrani Labs was founded in 2024 by former Intel and AMD executives Dheemanth Nagaraj, Ashok Jagannathan, Srikanth Nimmagadda and Rajesh Vivekanandham. The company is designing AI inference chips, the processors that run trained models in production, along with the software needed to deploy them in enterprise and data-centre systems.

A key design choice is compatibility with Nvidia’s CUDA software stack, which most AI developers already use. That could let customers move workloads without rewriting their code. The startup is positioning itself against US inference chipmakers such as SambaNova, which secured $1 billion and a JPMorgan Chase inference deal earlier this year.

How the round grew

• June 2025: Agrani raised an $8 million seed round led by Peak XV Partners at a valuation of about $35 million.
• September 2026: the company was reported to be in talks for about $50 million, with Peak XV and 360 One.
• November 2026: the target has doubled to about $100 million as Stargazer and Google joined the talks.

The money is meant for chip making, research and development, and engineering hiring. Stargazer, the fund set up by Groww’s founders, would make Agrani its first investment, the latest example of consumer-internet founders backing hardware and deeptech companies.

Why AI inference chips matter for India

As Indian companies move AI from pilots to production, the cost of running models, not just training them, is becoming the main bill. Cloud providers are already selling inference by the token, as with E2E Networks’ Blaze pay-per-token inference service, while the government is buying compute through the IndiaAI Mission’s 10,000-GPU tender. Almost all of that capacity runs on imported chips.

Home-grown silicon is still at an early stage. Netrasemi’s 12nm NETRA A2000 edge AI chip has shown that Indian teams can take a design to working silicon. Agrani is aiming at the harder data-centre market, where it would compete with Nvidia’s own inference push after its deal for chip startup Groq. Details of Agrani’s products are on the Agrani Labs website.

Key takeaways

• Funding: Agrani Labs is in talks to raise about $100 million at a $300–350 million valuation.
• Investors: Stargazer, Google, Peak XV Partners and 360 One are reported to be in the round.
• Product: CUDA-compatible AI inference chips for enterprise and data-centre use, built by former Intel and AMD executives.

FAQ

What does Agrani Labs make?

Agrani Labs is a Bengaluru semiconductor startup building AI inference chips and software that are compatible with Nvidia’s CUDA stack.

How much is Agrani Labs raising?

About $100 million (around ₹950 crore), up from the roughly $50 million it was reported to be seeking in September 2026, according to people aware of the talks.

Who founded Agrani Labs?

Dheemanth Nagaraj, Ashok Jagannathan, Srikanth Nimmagadda and Rajesh Vivekanandham, all former Intel and AMD executives, founded the company in 2024.

Featured image: The Agrani Labs team. Photo: Agrani Labs

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