Secondaries
All memos

Demo. Illustrative mockup for internal design review. All deal terms, pricing and allocation figures are placeholders, not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. Company information is drawn from public reporting as of October 2026 and has not been verified with the company.

AI infrastructureDemo

SambaNova Systems

Single-asset SPV access to SambaNova Systems at an implied $9.4B entry — a ~15% discount to the $11B July Series F — as enterprise demand shifts from AI training to inference.

Investment Memorandum · October 2026

Terms

Vehicle
Interplay Secondaries SambaNova I, LLC (single-asset SPV)
Security
Series D preferred via secondary transfer from an existing holder (subject to ROFR)
Last Primary Valuation
$11B (Series F, July 2026)
Entry Valuation
Implied $9.4B post-money (illustrative)
Discount to Last Round
~15% (illustrative)
Target Allocation
$10,000,000
Minimum Investment
$25K
Fees
2% one-time admin fee; 0% annual management fee
Carry
10%
Indicative Close
November 2026, subject to company approval and transfer completion

Summary

SambaNova Systems, founded in Palo Alto in 2017, designs reconfigurable dataflow chips (RDUs) and full-stack systems for running the largest AI models, and has refocused on inference for enterprises, sovereign clouds and neo-clouds. The company says a single rack can host a trillion-parameter model.

Its SN40L chip shipped in 2023; the next-generation SN50 was unveiled in February 2026 and begins shipping in the second half of the year, with SoftBank as the first deployment partner. Named customers include JPMorganChase, Saudi Aramco and Intel.

This memo covers a single-asset SPV holding Series D preferred acquired by secondary transfer from an existing holder, at an implied $9.4B post-money entry against the $11B July 2026 Series F.

Why Now

  • Valuation reset. Priced near $2B at the February Series E, then $11B five months later as demand shifted from training to inference.
  • Tier-one syndicate. General Atlantic led the Series F with QIA, Vista, Intel Capital, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price and Capital Group participating.
  • Enterprise validation. JPMorganChase named SambaNova an inference-infrastructure partner for on-prem deployments.
  • Path to liquidity. CEO Rodrigo Liang has pointed toward an eventual listing while noting continued inbound strategic interest.

Investment Thesis

  1. Inference is the growth market. Spend is moving from training clusters to serving models in production, where cost per token, power draw and on-prem security matter more than raw training throughput. That is SambaNova's chosen ground.
  2. Differentiated silicon, full stack. SambaNova sells chips, systems and cloud access rather than components alone, giving buyers a complete alternative to GPU-based inference and giving the company more of the margin.
  3. Entry below the last institutional mark. A secondary at an illustrative ~15% discount to the Series F gives exposure alongside General Atlantic and the crossover syndicate at a lower basis, with a stated intent to go public over time.

Milestones

  • 2017: Founded in Palo Alto.
  • Apr 2021: $676M Series D led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, valued above $5B.
  • Dec 2025: Intel acquisition talks reported at ~$1.6B; company stays independent.
  • Feb 2026: SN50 unveiled alongside a $350M Series E.
  • Jul 2026: $1B Series F first close at $11B, led by General Atlantic; JPMorganChase partnership.
  • H2 2026: SN50 begins shipping; SoftBank first deployment partner.

Key Risks

  • Competitive intensity. Nvidia dominates inference, and other specialised chipmakers and hyperscaler in-house silicon compete for the same buyers.
  • Execution on SN50. Valuation assumes on-schedule volume shipments and supply-chain scale-up.
  • Valuation volatility. The company was priced roughly 5x higher within five months; marks can move sharply in both directions.
  • Liquidity and structure. No realised exits to date; secondary transfers face ROFR, information limits and an uncertain IPO timeline.

How to Participate

  1. Request access. Receive the data room and full terms.
  2. Indicate interest. Soft-circle your commitment amount.
  3. Sign & fund. Subscription docs and wire via the SPV.
  4. Close. Units issued at transfer completion.

Questions: Vir Mirchandani, Partner, Secondaries.

Additional Notes

  • All deal terms, pricing and allocation figures are illustrative placeholders, not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.
  • Company information is drawn from public reporting as of October 2026 and has not been verified with the company.
  • Final fund documents will take precedence and govern the investment.