Investing in SambaNova Systems | How to Buy Pre-IPO Shares

SambaNova Systems is a full-stack AI systems service provider and hardware manufacturer. The company offers a range of products, from purpose-built chips designed to run the fastest AI systems to cloud solutions that empower businesses globally. Today, it’s recognized as a leader in AI innovation.

SamboNova Systems continues to expand its operations and network, resulting in increased interest in its shares. However, the company is privately owned, meaning that its assets cannot be found on public exchanges like the NYSE or NASDAQ. Instead, interested investors must qualify and navigate the secondary markets to gain access to SambaNova Systems’ pre-IPO shares. Here’s what you need to know.

What is SambaNova Systems?

Kunle Olukotun, Christopher Ré, and Rodrigo Liang founded SambaNova Systems in 2017. It was founded and remains in Palo Alto, California. Its goal was to introduce a new level of AI accessibility to the masses, enabling more businesses to leverage advanced AI systems to maximize their data insights, trackability, and responsiveness.

As part of this approach, the team created an all-inclusive strategy that included everything from purpose-built chips to specially designed models. This approach enabled developers, enterprises, governments, and data centers to enhance their performance, lower their operating costs, and unlock their full AI potential.

SambaStack

SambaStack is the company’s on-premise hardware and software package. It includes everything your company needs to integrate, operate, manage, and deploy AI protocols in-house. The product provides access to all the hardware, software, and model programming tools required to get started.

The primary benefit of SambaStack is that it enables your firm to maximize its data analysis capabilities while maintaining complete control over your information. It includes access to foundation models that were built specifically to extract valuable insight from your data and provide the results in easy-to-use, customizable reports.

Custom Built AI Chips

At the core of SambaNova Systems’ approach is their commitment to hardware development. The company’s Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit (RDU) was purpose-built from the ground up to handle the intense workload advanced AI systems demand.

It includes crucial upgrades such as data flow architecture. For example, the chip was designed utilizing a 3-tier architecture. This layout enables the chip to run multiple models simultaneously on a single node. Best of all, the chip can instantly switch between other nodes to provide lightning-fast performance. Notably,  SambaNova released its 4th-generation RDU chip, the SN40L, in 2023.

SambaRack

The SambaRack is another enterprise solution that can save companies money and time. It includes a low-power full-stack design that operates on as little as 10 kW per rack. It comes fully operational, including both cooling and power delivery systems. Its low-power design means that businesses don’t need to invest in liquid cooling systems, significantly lowering costs.

SambaCloud

Another popular feature offered by SambaNova Systems is the SambaCloud options. SambaCloud enables any firm to leverage AI services and hardware when needed. It’s one of the company’s most popular solutions as it eliminates the need to make hardware investments. It also delivers instant access to today’s most popular AI models.

Advanced AI Models

Users can create and moderate new or existing AI models using SambaNova Systems. The platform works seamlessly with leading solutions, including Llama 4, DeepSeek, OpenAI, and Owen. It also provides access to the Japanese open-source model, Swallow.

Developer Tools

There is a suite of AI developer tools that make programming and managing your AI models easier than ever. The platform supports using popular tools, including CrewAI, Hugging Face, Cline, and AWS. It also lets you integrate multiple AI models into a single project.

Source – SambaNova Systems

Integrating multiple models enables developers to leverage the best aspects of each system. For example, some AI systems are designed to handle images or videos, while others focus on text-related tasks. You can utilize the full capabilities of the top-end AI systems available or create new ones to meet your needs using the developer toolset.

SambaManaged

It’s one thing to create an AI model, and it’s an entirely different story integrating it into a business system effectively and without disruptions. In the past, large enterprises have spent millions attempting to get the most out of their AI investments. Recognizing a need to streamline the process, SambaNova Systems offers modular and ready-to-deploy systems, including secure APIs and advanced AI inference services.

Historical Funding Rounds

Summary of SambaNova Systems Funding:

Total Funding: SambaNova Systems secured $1.13B across 4 funding rounds

Largest Round: SambaNova Systems’s largest funding round secured $676M on April 13, 2021.

Investors: A total of 17 institutional investors back SambaNova Systems

Latest Round: The latest funding round raised $676M and was a Series D round held on April 13, 2021.

Funding Rounds Breakdown:

• 2 Early-Stage
• 2 Late-Stage

Key Investors:

SombaNova Systems secured funding from several institutional investors, including SoftBank Vision Fund, Temasek, BlackRock, Google Ventures, GIC, Walden International, Intel Capital, Celesta Capital, Redline Capital Management, Atlantic Bridge, Clear Ventures,  and more.

Why Invest in SambaNova Systems?

There are many reasons why investors continue to seek out SambaNova Systems. For one, its advanced AI options helped to democratize the economy. It enables any firm to leverage AI to boost productivity, accuracy, data privacy, and scalability.

Drive Performance

The combination of support for development and deployment makes SambaNova Systems a go-to option for enterprise-level clients looking to drive performance. The company’s custom-made hardware provides it with a competitive edge in terms of computing efficiency, accuracy, and performance.

Global Integration

Conglomerates and other major firms with global operations gain a lot from selecting SambaNova Systems as their AI provider. The company prioritizes easy integration, which means that businesses can start using their AI models faster. On average, the company can get its systems integrated and operational within 90 days. This timeframe is a major upgrade to build from scratch solutions that can take around a year to launch.

Most Trusted

SambaNova Systems has secured a reputation for providing enterprise-level data privacy and security. It continues to provide services to advanced laboratories, governments, and leading enterprise clientele. In this way, it helps to manage valuable private and secure data on a global scale without sacrificing security or performance.

Funding and Investor data sourced from Tracxn

1. Pre-IPO Secondary Marketplace

Secondary markets are purpose-built exchanges that connect pre-IPO shareholders with potential investors. These marketplaces can offer these assets because they work closely with employees, early-stage investors, and venture capitalists, who are crucial to the company’s pre-IPO growth.

Investing in pre-IPO shares of SambaNova Systems could offer strong returns if the company’s valuation increases following its IPO. It’s common for company valuations to increase following an IPO. As such, it makes sense to add pre-IPO shares to your portfolio before the firm announces plans to go public.

Secondary marketplaces have many requirements. Here are some concerns you should be made aware of:

Eligibility: This approach requires you to be an accredited investor, meaning you will have to show at least $1M in liquid assets to qualify for access.

2. Private Equity Firms

Private equity firms gain access to pre-IPO shares during investment rounds. They then offer these shares to high-net-worth accredited investors with a commission. Notably, private equity firms are known to have extra stipulations, including blocking the sale of shares for years in some cases.

3. Employee Equity Sales

Many consider employee equity sales as the best way to acquire pre-IPO shares in SambaNova Systems. This method of acquiring pre-IPO shares requires you to connect with former employees. It’s common for companies to issue shares as part of an incentive package. Notably, this profit-sharing method has become more popular, leading to more pre-IPO share opportunities for investors.

Private Transactions: There are a lot of hoops you will need to jump through to complete a private pre-IPO transaction, including creating specific legal agreements, conducting valuations, and setting in place any limitations on the transfer of the asset.

Brokerage: Brokers will take a lot of the confusion out of the pre-IPO process. These professionals can guide you through each step, ensuring full compliance and avoiding common errors untrained professionals make.

There are several risks that you should consider before jumping into the pre-IPO shares investment arena. Here are the top concerns:

Liquidity Risk

If you are looking for an asset that you can sell right away, pre-IPO shares are not the best option.

These investments can include sales and transfer clauses that prevent the transfer of the asset until certain criteria, such as the IPO’s completion, are met. It’s even common for pre-IPO shares to require you to wait years before gaining the ability to sell your assets.

Finding a Broker

If you meet the requirements and are comfortable with the risks, several platforms offer access to pre-IPO opportunities:

Forge Global: One of the largest private stock marketplaces, offering shares in late-stage startups like SpaceX, Stripe, and Databricks. Minimums typically start around $100,000.

EquityZen: A popular platform allowing accredited investors to buy into private companies with minimums as low as $5,000. Past offerings include companies like Discord and UiPath.

Rainmaker Securities: A full-service broker that helps source and negotiate private share sales, including opportunities in companies like OpenAI, Stripe, and Palantir.

Hiive: A newer platform with live bid/ask pricing for hundreds of private companies. Transparent and low-fee, with minimums starting around $25,000.

MicroVentures: Offers pooled access to late-stage companies through special purpose vehicles (SPVs), including past investments in SpaceX and Instacart.

EquityBee: Allows investors to fund employee stock option exercises at startups, often at discounted valuations, with minimums around $10,000.

Augment: A digital-first marketplace showing real-time pricing for pre-IPO shares, targeting tech-savvy investors and offering lower transaction fees.

StartEngine Private: Launched in late 2023, this platform offers accredited investors access to Regulation D offerings in later-stage, venture-backed companies. In its first nine months, it generated $16.5 million in revenue, with average investments of around $32,000

Important: Always perform thorough due diligence and consult a financial advisor before investing in private company shares.

Valuation of SambaNova Systems and Future IPO

SambaNova Systems qualified for Unicorn status on Apr 13, 2021, after it secured a $5B valuation. This valuation was made possible by a combination of factors, including strong institutional support and constant product upgrades.

The company’s unique business model, which includes both cloud, in-house systems, hardware, chips, and AI models, provides direct access to everything needed to integrate these protocols seamlessly into business operations.

If SambaNova Systems can continue on its current trajectory, it’s likely that it will see growing interest and share prices. Those already holding SambaNova Systems shares seek to capitalize on the company’s unique positioning and large network of clients and investors.

Investing in SambaNova Systems Pre-IPO Shares | Conclusion

Holding SambaNova Systems can open the door for future opportunities. The firm currently has growing market penetration, and its products are geared towards future demands. Additionally, it’s a leading provider of cloud AI services, which is estimated to be valued at $102.09B with analysts predicting growth to $589.22B by 2030.

Notably, it’s recommended that you conduct more research, including speaking with a financial professional, before making any Pre-IPO investments. These assets differ from traditional stocks in many ways and can have individual restrictions, such as no-sale time limits, which can increase your risk exposure.

Additionally, there’s no guarantee that a company’s share prices will increase if it announces IPO plans, or that the firm will generate as much revenue as it currently does in the future. All of these factors mean that you need to DYOR. For those who complete this task and can qualify for SambaNova Systems’ pre-IPO shares, there’s definitely some upside potential.

Learn about Other Pre-IPO Opportunities Now

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Pre-IPO shares are typically available only to accredited investors and carry significant risk. Always perform thorough due diligence and consult a financial advisor or legal expert before making investment decisions.