SemiAnalysis believes this will be the first truly high-performance RISC V design! We are still not sure what their business model is. Licensing, datacenter, mobile, or building until they are acquired by a larger firm all could be viable. Regardless, there seems to be a new, aggressive startup on the block, but this time in the RISC V flavor!
Rivos Inc | A Chip Off The Old Block? New RISC-V Startup Garners Many Senior CPU Architects From Apple, Google, Marvell, Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD
Here's another well staffed RISC-V startup emerging from the shadows: https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/01/ventana_micro_riscv_processors_chiplets/