FUNDING
Coverage Timeline
newest firstAll Coverage
FUNDING~10x return
GV's Dave Munichiello on Qualcomm's Modular Deal, a Roughly 10x Return, and the AI Software Shift
GV general partner Dave Munichiello discussed Qualcomm's June 24 acquisition of AI infrastructure software startup Modular in a Crunchbase Q&A published June 30, describing a return of roughly 10x on GV's total dollars invested after leading Modular's Series A at a $155 million valuation with a $23 million check. Munichiello framed the deal as validation of a shift toward 'disaggregated inference' — software that lets AI workloads run efficiently across a mix of chips rather than locking into a single hardware vendor.
BIG TECH
Qualcomm's $3.9B Modular Buy Hands GV a 27x Return as Chipmakers Race to Own AI Software
BIG TECH$3.9B
Qualcomm's $3.9B Modular Buy Hands GV a 27x Return as Chipmakers Race to Own AI Software
Qualcomm's roughly $3.9 billion acquisition of Modular -- the AI-software company founded by Swift and LLVM creator Chris Lattner -- has handed early backer GV a 27x return on its initial check, the firm's Dave Munichiello revealed this week. The deal is the clearest sign yet that the strategic battleground in AI is shifting from raw silicon to the software layer that makes chips usable, as Qualcomm bets it can challenge Nvidia's CUDA moat by owning the stack that runs models across CPUs, GPUs and AI accelerators.