Intel CEO backs $44M round for Speedata as Israeli chipmaker targets big data bottlenecks
With a purpose-built processor to accelerate data analytics, Speedata aims to replace racks of servers and redefine performance benchmarks in an AI-driven world.
As the volume of digital data multiplies, so do the cracks in the infrastructure that processes it. Israeli startup, Speedata, is betting that it has a fix, and it doesn’t look like anything on the market today.
On Tuesday, Speedata unveiled its Analytics Processing Unit (APU), powered by its Callisto chip, designed specifically to accelerate big data analytic workloads. Unlike general-purpose CPUs or even GPUs - both stretched thin by the rising demands of generative AI and complex data workflows - Speedata’s new chip was built from the ground up to handle large-scale analytics with efficiency and speed.
The launch comes alongside a $44 million Series B funding round, announced on Tuesday but completed six months ago, bringing Speedata’s total capital raised to $114 million. The round includes Walden Catalyst Ventures, 83North, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Pitango First, and Viola Ventures, as well as Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Mellanox co-founder Eyal Waldman.
Speedata was founded by Jonathan Friedmann, Dan Charash, Rafi Shalom, Itai Incze, Yoav Etsion and Dani Voitsechov. The company recently appointed Adi Gelvan as its CEO. Gelvan previously served as CEO of Speedb, acquired by Redis in 2024, and had key leadership roles at SQream, Infinidat, and EMC.
“As the volume and complexity of data continue to grow at an unprecedented pace, it’s clear that new approaches are needed to complement existing compute architectures,” said Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel and Managing Partner at Walden Catalyst Ventures. “Speedata’s APU is a timely innovation, purpose-built to meet the rising demands of big data analytics at scale.”
