A startup called Upscale has raised a $190 million Series A-1 round at a $2 billion valuation, according to Fortune's Lily Mae Lazarus. The deal roughly doubles the company's worth from $1 billion, which it reached after raising $200 million back in January.
Upscale is building AI networking infrastructure aimed at rivaling Cisco, the longtime giant of networking gear, according to Fortune. As the report frames it, every major shift in computing has tended to give rise to a new networking company built for that era — and Upscale is positioning itself as that company for the AI age.
The round drew notable backing. According to SDxCentral, Nvidia is among the investors supporting the startup, which it describes as an "AI networking switch silicon" company. Quartz (qz.com) likewise reported the $190 million Series A-1 at a $2 billion valuation.
The quick jump in valuation — from $1 billion to $2 billion in roughly half a year, based on Fortune's account — signals how aggressively investors are pouring money into the plumbing that connects AI chips, not just the chips themselves.
Why it matters: training and running large AI models depends on moving enormous amounts of data between processors, and whoever supplies that high-speed networking layer stands to become a foundational player in the AI buildout — which is why a young company taking aim at Cisco, with Nvidia in its corner, is drawing billion-dollar bets.