Premji Invest founder Azim Premji. Photo credit: Monikia Flueckiger/World Economic Forum, under Creative Commons license

Premji Invest, the investment vehicle founded by Indian tech tycoon Azim Premji, has backed Innovium, a San Jose-based chip startup, as part of a $170 million financing round secured by the company. Premji Invest invested in the round alongside the likes of DFJ Growth, BlackRock, Greylock, Qualcomm Ventures, and S-Cubed Capital. The new funding values Innovium at more than $1 billion. With the new funding, Innovium has now raised a total of $353 million in known funding.

Innovium makes silicon and chip products for use in data centers. The company seems to be a challenger to chip giant Broadcom. Its flagship product is the Terlaynx brand of Ethernet switches. Innovium currently maintains offices in San Jose, California and Bengaluru, India as well as a research lab in the state of Oregon. Currently, the company employs more than 180 people.

Premji Invest is an investment vehicle set up by Azim Premji, an Indian tech tycoon best known for founding Wipro, the Indian IT outsourcing giant. Since its founding in 2006, Premji Invest has backed dozens of companies, some notable names being the likes of Anaplan, Apptus, DataStax, ServiceMax, Lenskart, and Policybazaar.