Benchmark raises $225M in special funds to back Cerebras

Cerebras Systems this week raised $1 billion at a $23 billion valuation, nearly three times its value six months earlier. Tiger Global led the round, and a large share of the new capital came from early backer Benchmark Capital, which invested at least $225 million, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Benchmark first led the startup’s $27 million Series A in 2016. Because the firm deliberately keeps its funds under $450 million, it raised two separate vehicles, both called 'Benchmark Infrastructure'; those vehicles were created specifically to fund the Cerebras investment.

Benchmark declined to comment. Cerebras’s Wafer Scale Engine, announced in 2024, measures approximately 8.5 inches on each side and packs 4 trillion transistors into a single piece of silicon.