San Diego, US · Partner
Naveen Rao
The firm
Craft VenturesVC firm · US56cheques in 12 months282all time14ledRounds they were named in
- Rounds
- 1
- Led
- 0
- Disclosed
- $1.7M
- Active
- 2019
XOKindSeed$1.7MUSJoined · +7 investors
Rounds where a report named this person rather than a firm, matched on name: read it as a strong hint, not proof, since people share names.
Where they are named on record
Filings
- SEC Form D · Company raisingMosaic ML, Inc.Executive Officer, Director, Promotersince 2021
- SEC Form D · Company raisingNervana Systems, Inc.Executive Officer, Directoron 2 filings · since 2014
Each row is a document a firm filed with a regulator: somebody signed it, and it carries a date.
Hear them before you pitch them
20VC: Why Robotics Will be 100x Bigger than Coding Agents | Inference Will Be a $10TRN Market: What No One Sees | Why Software Investors are F***** Today with Naveen Rao, Unconventional
WithNaveen Rao
About this episode
AGENDA: 05:00 Will we run out of energy? 19:00 Will specialised chips threaten NVIDIA's dominance? 26:00 Can we trust AI agents more than humans? 31:00 Will data companies become commodities? 36:00 What comes after transformers? 41:00 Are software investors f****** in a world of infra and… More on the show's page
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Naveen Rao: 4D Computing, AI's Energy Wall & Beating Biology
WithNaveen Rao
About this episode
(0:00) Welcome Naveen Rao (4:45) Is energy really the problem? The cost of a token, power contracts & the gap to close (10:24) Cutting out the middleman: abstractions, dynamical systems & a new kind of machine (19:46) Chamath joins: the path to product, porting existing models & building the… More on the show's page
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Ellison's Counter Offer, Chinese H200s, Data Centers in Space | Aaron Ginn, Matt Kalish, Emil Michael, Blake Scholl, Naveen Rao, Ofir Ehrlich, Gorkem Yurtseven, Pedro Franceschi
WithAaron GinnBlake SchollMatt KalishNaveen RaoPedro Franceschi
MentionsEmil Michael
About this episode
(00:20) - Ellison's Counter Offer (18:23) - Chinese H200s (32:18) - Data Centers in Space (42:30) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions (01:01:24) - Aaron Ginn is the CEO and Co-Founder of Hydra Host, a company specializing in high-performance computing infrastructure. In the conversation, he… More on the show's page
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The 80-Year Bet: Why Naveen Rao Is Rebuilding the Computer from Scratch
WithNaveen Rao
About this episode
Naveen Rao is cofounder and CEO of Unconventional AI, an AI chip startup building analog computing systems designed specifically for intelligence. Previously, Naveen led AI at Databricks and founded two successful companies: Mosaic (cloud computing) and Nervana (AI accelerators, acquired by Intel).… More on the show's page
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From tech worker to tech founder: Lessons from Naveen Rao of Databricks
WithNaveen Rao
About this episode
In 2014, Naveen Rao left his researcher job at Qualcomm to co-found machine intelligence platform Nervana. About two and a half years later, Nervana sold to Intel for more than $400 million. After a few years at Intel, Naveen became CEO and co-founder of open source startup MosaicML, which helped… More on the show's page
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Naveen Rao: Inside the Legendary Databricks Acquisition of MosaicML
WithNaveen Rao
About this episode
This week on Generative Now, Lightspeed Partner and host Michael Mignano talks to Naveen Rao about big bets in his career, hardware to develop AI, and open source as the key to safety. Naveen Rao is the founder of Nervana Systems and MosaicML, which was acquired by Databricks in 2023. He is… More on the show's page
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Mentioned in
Episodes that name Naveen Rao in their description, which is not the same as being on them.
10 of The Wildest Hot Takes From the All-In Summit 2026
MentionsAltimeterChamath PalihapitiyaDavid FriedbergDavid SacksElon MuskJason Calacanis
About this episode
The All-In Summit returned to Los Angeles this year with one of its biggest lineups yet: Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Satya Nadella, Gwynne Shotwell, Jared Isaacman, Brad Gerstner, Bill Gurley, Dina Powell McCormick, Jake Paul, Nick Shirley, Blake Scholl, Martin Shkreli and more, alongside hosts… More on the show's page
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Apple PodcastsThe show's page$4.5B Brain-Inspired AI Chip Company
MentionsAndreessen HorowitzDCVCJeff BezosPlayground GlobalSequoia CapitalKonstantine Buhler
About this episode
Unconventional AI recently emerged from stealth with $475M in seed funding at a $4.5B valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed, with participation from Sequoia, Lux Capital, DCVC, Future Ventures, Jeff Bezos, Playground Global, and others. Naveen is also personally investing $10M into… More on the show's page
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Highlighting Data Intelligence with Databricks & Bonbon's Reward Innovation | E2020
MentionsAlex WilhelmNaveen Rao
About this episode
This Week in Startups is brought to you by… OpenPhone. Create business phone numbers for you and your team that work through an app on your smartphone or desktop. TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist LinkedIn Jobs. A… More on the show's page
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