In December, Blaize announced it would go public by merging with BurTech Acquisitions, a SPAC, anticipating raising $71 million in a deal that would close this quarter. Since its 2010 founding, Blaize has raised funds from strategic investors Denso, Mercedes, Magna, and Samsung, as well as various financial investors. Despite the pending SPAC merger, the company recently announced it has raised $106 million, including from BurTech LP, the SPAC sponsor.
Blaize targets edge AI, the acceleration of AI functions in embedded systems. Counting Denso, Mercedes, and Magna as strategic investors, the company is strong in the automotive industry. The company’s processing architecture aims to improve resource utilization, helping its chips address edge AI’s power and latency requirements.
SPACs’ generous terms offered to sponsors and early investors and their mergers’ opaqueness invite skepticism. The timing of Blaize’s recent capital infusion raises further suspicion. Was it desperate for cash? Did it offer sweetheart terms to investors? Such concerns have little general interest for a private company, but Blaize must become more transparent as it transitions to a public company.