Via theenergymag.com
The chip designer formerly known as Auradine crossed the unicorn threshold with a $110 million raise, betting big on energy-efficient AI silicon
Velaura AI, a Santa Clara-based chip designer that quietly pivoted from blockchain hardware to AI silicon, closed a $110 million Series V-A funding round on July 10, pushing its post-money valuation to $1.05B. The company just joined the unicorn club, and it did so by selling a surprisingly simple pitch: making AI chips that consume a lot less electricity.
The round drew participation from GSBackers, MARA Holdings, Maverick Capital, Premji Invest, and Qualcomm Ventures.
From Auradine to Velaura: a rebrand with a thesis #
The company was founded in 2022 under the name Auradine Inc. For its first few years, it built silicon with blockchain applications in mind. Then, in March 2026, it rebranded to Velaura AI, a move CEO Rajiv Khemani positioned as an alignment with the company’s deeper focus on energy-efficient computing across cloud and edge AI workloads.
That same month, Velaura launched its flagship product: the Titan Core silicon design and IP platform. The company claims Titan Core can deliver up to 50% lower power consumption for AI accelerators, and it does so without requiring software changes or full system-on-chip redesigns.
The technical secret sauce involves patented low-voltage libraries and proprietary electronic design automation tool flows. In plainer terms, Velaura has developed a way to run chip circuits at lower voltages while maintaining performance, then packaged that capability into a platform other chipmakers can license or integrate.
Prior to this latest round, the company had already raised substantial capital. A Series C of roughly $138 million to $153 million closed in April 2025, and total funding across all rounds sits somewhere between $279 million and $343 million.
The MARA connection and the blockchain backstory #
MARA Holdings’ presence on the cap table is worth lingering on. As one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies, MARA has direct experience with the problem Velaura is trying to solve. Bitcoin mining is, at its core, a power optimization game. Every watt saved per terahash translates directly to margin improvement.
Velaura’s origins in blockchain hardware gave it a proving ground for exactly this kind of optimization. The company essentially stress-tested its low-power silicon approach in one of the most power-sensitive industries on the planet before pivoting to apply those lessons to the broader AI chip market.
Qualcomm Ventures’ involvement adds another dimension. Qualcomm has been aggressively pushing into edge AI, where power efficiency isn’t just nice to have but is an absolute constraint. Mobile devices, autonomous vehicles, and IoT endpoints don’t have the luxury of plugging into a 50-megawatt substation.
The $1.05B valuation positions Velaura in a competitive landscape that includes well-funded startups like Groq, Cerebras, and SambaNova, all chasing different angles on AI chip optimization. But Velaura’s licensing-focused model, selling IP and design tools rather than fabricating complete chips, potentially gives it a wider addressable market.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our