Netrasemi Raises Rs 10 Crore in Pre-Series A Round from Unicorn India Ventures
- ByStartupStory | December 10, 2024
Kerala-based semiconductor startup Netrasemi has successfully raised Rs 10 crore in its Pre-Series A round from Unicorn India Ventures to scale its Edge AI solutions for IoT products. The funding will support the development and fabrication of two machine learning (ML) system-on-chip (SoC) products, the Netra A2000 and Netra R1000, the company announced.
Founded in 2020 by Jyothis Indirabhai, Sreejith Varma, and Deepa Geetha, Netrasemi is making significant strides in the semiconductor industry by developing AI-driven SoCs that optimize computing for smart Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The company’s focus is on enabling Edge AI technology that allows devices to process data locally rather than relying on cloud-based computing, which results in smarter, faster, and more cost-effective products.
With a dedicated team of 61 members, Netrasemi is focused on creating a family of AI/ML-capable SoCs and reference designs tailored for over 100 different AI/ML use cases. These solutions aim to simplify, streamline, and reduce the cost of developing Edge AI products across various industries. Netrasemi’s chips are designed to be embedded in motherboards that enable IoT devices to perform advanced AI-based analytics independently.
The raised capital will be directed towards fabricating the Netra A2000 and Netra R1000 chips, both key to the company’s growth trajectory. These chips will drive the development of advanced applications such as smart sensors, surveillance, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and more.
Over the past year, Netrasemi has gained considerable traction, receiving interest from large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across multiple sectors, including medical, telecommunications, and industrial markets. The company has also started generating revenue, with earnings of approximately $0.75 million from chip design and porting services for strategic partners. This figure is expected to grow by 150 percent in FY25, fueled by intellectual property (IP) revenue, and will see exponential growth by FY27, once volume production of chips begins.
Anil Joshi, Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures, commented on the investment: “There are attractive opportunities in the Edge AI software market and there is absolutely no denying that the AI industry has the potential to transform various sectors. The funding accelerates Netrasemi’s mission to deploy the solutions on a better scale.”
The key target segments for Netrasemi’s Netra SoCs include surveillance, smart infrastructure, machine vision, robotics, drones, and autonomous vehicles. As the demand for surveillance cameras increases, driven by privacy concerns and smart city initiatives, Netrasemi is poised to capitalize on a rapidly growing market. Their solutions will serve various end-user verticals, including government, industrial, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), transportation, and more.
Commenting on the company’s future prospects, Jyothis Indirabhai, Co-founder of Netrasemi, said: “Netrasemi family of chips will be the first AI/ML SoCs from India for intelligent edge devices, with a full array of digital IPs in-house developed. We not only own the chip but also own what goes inside. We are excited to be backed by Unicorn India Ventures and believe this funding will play a crucial step for us to fuel our continued expansion and success.”
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