Groq raises $650M to scale AI inference cloud after Nvidia licensing deal

Groq just secured $650 million in growth funding, announced on June 22, 2026. That’s a hefty check for a company that recently watched its founder, CEO, and president walk out the door to join Nvidia. The round was led by Disruptive, whose founder Alex Davis also chairs Groq’s board, along with Infinitum. Existing investors opted to reinvest as well. The Nvidia deal that changed everything In December 2025, Nvidia struck a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Groq valued at roughly $20 billion, targeting Groq’s inference technology for its own platforms. As part of the arrangement, Nvidia hired several of Groq’s most important people. Founder and CEO Jonathan Ross left. So did president Sunny Madra. Groq’s previous post-money valuation stood at $6.9 billion following a $750 million round in September 2025. The current valuation has not been disclosed, though earlier reporting pegged it around $3.5 billion. Rebuilding from the inside out Groq has essentially hit the reset button on its leadership team. Alan Rice, who previously worked at both xAI and Meta, has joined as chief operating officer. Sinclair Schuller stepped in as CTO, and Rakesh Malhotra took the chief product officer...