Groq's $350M Mega-Round and ITC Vegas 2026

Below, we break down some of tech’s biggest stories, with analyst perspective on the moves that matter the most. Here’s what we’re watching this week: ITC Vegas 2026 Virtue AI gets acquired by Fortinet Groq raises $350M This brief is adapted from our weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Thursday. 1. ITC Vegas 2026: We did your homework. ITC Vegas is the world’s largest insurance innovation event. We put together full profiles on the top 250 exhibitors and sponsors, completing the scouting work for you. Download our Book of Scouting Reports so you can be prepared. Attendees should also: Look out for your personalized ITC Vegas Dance Card , which provides your top 10 companies to meet on the Expo Floor, powered by CB Insights data. Visit the ITC Vegas Discovery Desk powered by CB Insights , between 7 AM and 6 PM each day, for tailored partnership recommendations. Dive into the 2026 Insurtech 50 at 11 AM on Thursday, October 1 led by our Lead Insurtech Analyst, Christopher Sekerak . Register here and use code CBINSIGHTSITC200 to save $200 on your pass. 2. AI security went from emerging category to M&A target in under 3 years. AI governance and safety platform Virtue AI , one of our 2026 AI 100 winners , was acquired by Fortinet yesterday. Strong targets remain across the category, as shown on our M&A radar . But two other companies from our interest zone were acquired in the past 15 months: Apex was acquired by Tenable in May 2025 for $105M. Enkrypt AI was acquired by Anaconda earlier this month. Fortinet is buying into that wave, adding runtime model protection directly into its platform rather than waiting for standards to catch up. As companies push agents into production, the attack surface grows beyond what traditional security tools were built to handle, making companies that provide broad coverage solutions prime acquisition targets. 3. Groq lost its founder, its engineers, and its core technology to NVIDIA. Then it raised $1B. The AI chip market lost one of its most interesting independents last December, when NVIDIA paid $20B to license Groq’s technology and hired away its founder and engineering team. Groq just proved the story wasn’t over. It raised $350M at a $3.5B valuation, less than half its pre-deal $6.9B (with NVIDIA investing again). Add the $650M raised in June 2026, and total funding since the deal hits $1B. Groq operates 13 data centers across four continents, selling computing power to over 6M developers and thousands of companies. The new capital supports a major expansion in 2027. CB Insights clients can explore the full acqui-hire tracker here . More CB Insights research: State of Insurtech Q2’26 Report The AI Security Gold Rush Partnerships and Hiring Data Show AI Companies are Expanding Beyond NVIDIA Chips The post Groq’s $350M mega-round and ITC Vegas 2026 appeared first on CB Insights Research .