From Idea to Exit: The Story of Rivos

“Lip-Bu, our Chairman, has been instrumental in the very creation and success of Rivos. He conceived the original idea and brought me and my co-founders together on this journey. From day one, he worked tirelessly to help us reach silicon and showcase a full solution to the industry. Most importantly, his vision guided us to pivot toward Generative AI, a move that defined our trajectory, instead of remaining focused on data analytics. I am deeply grateful for Lip-Bu’s leadership and unwavering guidance through both the highs and the lows of our journey.” Puneet Kumar, Co-founder & CEO of Rivos

At Walden Catalyst, we help visionary entrepreneurs build reality. Sometimes we help create the vision too. Today we celebrate the success and acquisition of our portfolio company Rivos by Meta, a journey that began with a vision and conviction before the company was even founded. Congratulations to Puneet, Mark, Belli and Tse-Yu and the entire Rivos team for the remarkable achievement! 

Founding Story

The origins of Rivos go back to Lip-Bu Tan, WCV’s founding managing partner. Lip-Bu was previously CEO of Cadence. During that period, he evaluated a potential acquisition of ARM and saw firsthand how ARM’s business model of licensing model and royalties attached to every processor core was the industry standard. That experience shaped a conviction: while Arm remains a cornerstone of the semiconductor ecosystem, and our co-founder Young Sohn proudly serves on its board, there is also room for complementary approaches, including open standards like RISC-V, to expand innovation and choice in compute.

Later, at Walden Catalyst, Lip-Bu developed an investment thesis around RISC-V, an open instruction set architecture with no licensing fees or royalties. But building a company to compete at this level would require three essential elements: top-notch software that was fully compatible with existing datacenter ecosystems; a processor architecture capable of delivering high performance at low power, operating at 3.1–3.5 GHz; and a deep partnership with at least one leading hyperscale customer. It also required a highly ambitious team unafraid to take on the highly successful incumbent suppliers of SoC’s - Intel, Nvidia and ARM.

No such company existed. So Walden Catalyst helped create one. Together with longtime friend and industry veteran Amarjit Gill, a serial entrepreneur behind SiByte and PA Semi, Lip-Bu worked to assemble a founding team. They recruited Puneet Kumar (Google), Mark Hayter (Google), Belli Kuttanna (Intel), and Tse-yu Yeh (Apple). Several of the founders had already worked together at SiByte (acquired by Broadcom) and PA Semi (acquired by Apple), giving the new company a strong foundation of shared experience.

In September 2021, Rivos was launched with the four founders, a group of key technical architects, and over 100 employees on day one, with Walden Catalyst as anchor founding investor. WCV was joined by our dear friends and partners Scott Darling (Dell Capital Ventures) and David Goel and Romit Shah (Matrix Capital Management). Lip-Bu became Chairman of the Board, helping to secure early commitments from partners like TSMC for access to advanced process nodes, as well as agreements with tool vendors for cutting-edge EDA resources normally out of reach for startups. Walden Catalyst also assembled the syndicate of investors for the company’s first financing, setting Rivos on its path.

Challenges and Value Pivots

The road was not straightforward. In 2023, after nearly 50 Apple engineers joined Rivos in a short span of time, Apple filed a lawsuit alleging misappropriation of trade secrets related to SoC designs. Although Rivos considered the lawsuit meritless, the case cast a shadow and discouraged some potential customers from working closely with the company. During this period, Walden Catalyst continued to guide and back the founders, along with our partners at Dell Capital Partners and Matrix Capital Management.  Lip-Bu played a pivotal role in negotiating a settlement with Apple that allowed Rivos to move forward and re-engage customers.

At the same time, the semiconductor market was changing rapidly. While the original vision focused on high-performance processors, AI workloads were scaling at an unprecedented pace, creating a massive opportunity. As Chairman, Lip-Bu encouraged the company to pivot and prioritize AI acceleration. After much deliberation, the Rivos leadership team made the shift, deepening their collaboration with Meta as a customer and design partner. This decision proved to be the defining inflection point for the company’s future.

Achievements and Exit

Rivos delivered on its vision with remarkable technical progress. The company successfully taped out a 3.1 GHz processor and built a CUDA-compatible software stack, making it possible to run AI workloads originally built for NVIDIA’s ecosystem seamlessly on RISC-V hardware. This “recompile, not redesign” approach lowered adoption barriers for customers while showcasing Rivos’ industry-leading performance and power efficiency.

Earlier in 2025, as Rivos prepared to raise its next round of financing, investor interest was strong and the round was oversubscribed. Alongside the financing process, the company also received multiple acquisition offers. After careful consideration, the founders, board, and investors supported the offer from Meta: a decision that validated both the technology and the strategic importance of Rivos’ vision.

Looking Ahead

From its inception in 2021 to today’s successful outcome, Rivos has exemplified the qualities we look for at Walden Catalyst: bold vision, resilience through challenges, and conviction to pivot at critical moments. It has been a privilege to support the founders: Puneet, Mark, Belli, and Tse-yu, alongside Amarjit and partners at Walden Catalyst.

Rivos’ story demonstrates what can happen when world-class entrepreneurs, trusted partnerships, and deep conviction come together to reshape an industry.

At Walden Catalyst, we help visionary entrepreneurs build reality. Rivos is a testament to that mission, and to the work of our entire team: Young Sohn, Shankar Chandran, Francis Ho, Nicolas Autret, Andy Kau, and Roni Hefetz, alongside Lip-Bu Tan.