Jonathan Ross walked away from Google, sold everything, and built Groq to take on a trillion-dollar titan.

Jonathan Ross never cared for material possessions.
His wardrobe? The same black t-shirt.
The rest? He sold.

For him, minimalism wasn’t a statement, it was about staying focused.

At Google, Ross architected the chip that powered the AI revolution. A breakthrough that put Google ahead of the pack.

But Ross noticed what others overlooked: when people wanted instant replies, AI dragged its feet.

So in 2016, he walked away from the security and prestige of Google with a vision.

That vision became Groq – a chip that could deliver quicker speeds, for less.

The road ahead, however, was anything but smooth…

In 2017, Groq raised $10M to get off the ground. A year later, $52.3M provided further momentum. By 2021, a $300M round catapulted the company into contention.

Yet by 2023, revenue was at $3.2M against staggering losses of $88M.

Critics asked: how could a startup bleeding cash possibly challenge a trillion-dollar titan like Nvidia?

Then came signs of life.

In August 2024, Groq raised $640M at a $2.8B valuation. Investors began to see what Ross always believed.

Soon after, Groq struck a partnership with Aramco Digital in Saudi Arabia, securing a $1.5B commitment to embed Groq into the kingdom’s digital strategy.

And now, a breakthrough moment.

Groq has just closed a fresh $750M round, pushing its valuation to $6.9B, with heavyweight backers including FlightStory Fund, BlackRock, Samsung, and Cisco.

In a world dominated by trillion-dollar giants, Ross isn’t playing their game.

He’s rewriting it.

Steven Bartlett is an investor in Founded