Former Nervana Leads Target Optimal Training Configurations

Ex-Nervana Systems engineers made the jump from a hardware-centric approach to efficient training to pushing better insight into optimization of models and systems. Nervana Systems was one of the first AI chip startups to generate big buzz, culminating in an acquisition by Intel in summer, 2016. The startup's co-founder and CEO, Naveen Rao, moved into the VP role for the AI products group while fellow Nervana engineers, including Hanlin Tang (who led development for the Neon software stack for Nervana's devices) also stuck around Intel focusing on practical AI algorithms and federal programs. Rao and Tang, among others, are together again with a new startup, MosaicML, which came out of stealth today with $37 million in funding from a wide range of VC partners, including Lux Capital, Future Ventures, E14, and others. The target is machine learning training and as the world quickly learned, optimized deep learning has far less to do with efficient, high performance hardware than the VCs believed in the 2014-2021 frame.