Dresden's Sparxity hits $90M total funding as Lockheed Martin backs its sparse AI chips
What's the deal? Dresden-based SparxityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, formerly SpiNNcloud, has closed a Series A that brings its total funding to $90 million. ICM HPQC FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led the round, with Lockheed Martin VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, GlobalFoundries, GS FuturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Cloudberry VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, TGFSDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and the European Innovation Council Fund participating.
The backers: Angel investors include Richard SocherDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, co-founder of Recursive Superintelligence, and Nancy XuDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, whose startup Moonhub joined Salesforce in 2025. Existing investors AtlanticDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Silicon CatalystDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → also joined.
What's the endgame? Sparxity builds chips for "sparse" computing — skipping calculations that do not matter for a given input to cut energy use. Its SpiNNaker2 chip targets AI inference, which it pitches as a complement to Nvidia's hardware rather than a rival.
By the numbers: The company says it has completed three chip designs, produced more than 70,000 chips, and signed over 30 customers across the US and Europe. Revenue grew fourfold from 2024 to 2025.
Why now? The raise lands alongside commercial steps. Sparxity recently installed a multi-million-dollar system at Germany's Jülich Supercomputing Centre and signed a letter of intent with Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems, targeting a first data-centre deployment in 2028.
"The next era of AI will be defined not just by how much computing power we can deliver, but by how intelligently and efficiently we use it," said co-founder and chief executive officer Hector Gonzalez.
What could go wrong? The company did not disclose how much new capital the round raised, so the $90 million is a cumulative milestone rather than a measure of fresh money. Its claimed "up to 44×" inference speedup applies to very sparse models and remains a company target, while the T-Systems deal is a letter of intent, not a completed deployment.
The signal: At $90 million in total funding, Sparxity ranks among the largest Series A rounds for an AI startup in Germany over the past four years, topping a sample of 109. The round reflects growing investor interest in energy-efficient European compute and alternatives to conventional AI accelerators — with the payoff hinging on turning early deployments into repeatable demand.
Read more: Tech Funding News
Image credit: Sparxity
