Investors are turning their attention to interconnect technology, with 39 companies securing $1.1 billion in funding.

Data transmission is increasingly becoming a focal point for chip and system designers, and investors are taking notice. Many startups developing interconnect technologies received significant support in March, covering technologies that support chiplets with PHY, photonic structures for disaggregating computing and memory, and telecommunication transceiver modules.

Additionally, several new startups have been established, focusing on addressing issues such as dataflow processor architectures, custom deep learning chips, and optical networks that connect GPUs.

In addition to large-scale financing for ADAS/AD development tools, diamond semiconductors, more AI chips, and nanomaterial integration, a total of 39 startups raised over $1.1 billion in funding in March.

Chips

Eliyan raised $60 million in Series B funding, led by Samsung Catalyst Fund and Tiger Global Management, with existing investors including Intel Capital, SK Hynix, Cleveland Avenue, and Mesh Ventures. Eliyan has developed chip-to-chip interconnect technology for multi-chip architectures used in advanced packaging or standard organic substrates. Its NuLink technology is a superset of Bunch of Wires (BoW) and Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe), a PHY for connecting chips with different functions within the same package. It enables simultaneous bidirectional signal transmission, allowing designs to receive data and transmit data on the same line at the same time. This PHY was recently taped out in TSMC's 3nm process, using standard packaging with a bandwidth of 64G bps/bump. In addition to chip-to-chip, it also provides chip-to-memory interconnect with bidirectional transceivers for each data channel. Eliyan's proposed universal memory interface will enable a single ASIC SKU to be configured to connect to different memory chiplets and non-memory chips, such as co-packaged optical devices and SerDes chiplets. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and was founded in 2021.Efficient Computer has emerged with a successful seed round of $16 million led by EclipseVC. Efficient Computer has developed a reconfigurable data flow processor architecture and software stack, which is claimed to be up to 100 times more energy-efficient than general-purpose CPUs currently on the market. The Fabric architecture expresses programs as "circuits" of instructions, showing which instructions communicate with each other, allowing the circuits to be spatially laid out on an array of extremely simple processors to execute programs in parallel. The startup has implemented this architecture in tested SoCs. General-purpose processors can be programmed with mainstream embedded programming languages and AI/ML frameworks, targeting a range of edge applications, including IoT, wearable and implantable health devices, space systems, and security and defense. The company was founded in 2022 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

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Artificial Intelligence Hardware

Taalas stands out with two rounds of funding totaling $50 million, led by Quiet Capital and individual investor Pierre Lamond. Taalas is developing an automated process for rapidly implementing all types of deep learning models in chips, including transformers, SSMs, diffusers, and MoEs. The startup claims that its technology can accommodate an entire large AI model on one of its chips without external memory, thereby significantly increasing efficiency and allowing model size to grow by 10-100 times. The company is set to tape out its first large language model (LLM) chip in the third quarter of 2024. Founded in 2023, the company is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

NeuReality has raised $20 million in funding from the European Innovation Council Fund, Varana Capital, Cleveland Avenue, XT Hi-Tech, and Our Crowd, with participation from Cardumen Capital, Glory Ventures, and Alumni Venture Group. NeuReality has built a purpose-built AI platform optimized for deep learning inference in applications such as computer vision, natural language processing, recommendation engines, and generative AI at data center and near-edge local locations. The company states that its Network Addressable Processing Unit (NAPU) offloads simple but critical data path functions from software to hardware, reducing reliance on CPUs, NICs, and PCI switches. Its inference PCIe cards connect directly to Ethernet to manage AI queries from a massive data pipeline of millions of users and billions of devices. The company also offers software and runtime libraries to accelerate AI deployment. The funds will support the deployment of its inference solutions. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Caesarea, Israel, the company has raised $70 million to date.

Innatera Nanosystems has raised €15 million (approximately $16.3 million) in Series A funding from Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, European Innovation Council Fund, MIG Capital, Matterwave Ventures, and Delft Enterprises. Innatera develops neuromorphic processors based on analog mixed-signal computing architectures that mimic the brain's mechanism for processing sensory data. Innatera's processors use spiking neural networks, offering ultra-low power consumption and short response latency with always-on pattern recognition capabilities at the sensor edge. The funds will be used to accelerate mass production and expand the range of applications. Founded in 2018 as a spin-off from Delft University of Technology, the company is headquartered in Leiden, the Netherlands.

Manufacturing, Equipment, and Materials

Elephantech has secured 3 billion yen (approximately $19.8 million) in Series E funding. Elephantech offers a printed circuit board manufacturing technology based on metal inkjet printing, which is claimed to be environmentally friendly, reducing CO2 emissions by 77% and water consumption by 95% compared to traditional manufacturing methods. The company states that its technology can print metal only where necessary onto the substrate, applicable to almost all types of PCBs. Currently, it mainly produces single-sided flexible substrates, with plans to produce multi-layer and rigid PCBs in the future. It also plans to enhance its capabilities in printing on biomass substrates and using recyclable materials. The funds will be used for commercialization. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the company has raised approximately 15 billion yen to date.

Diamfab has raised €8.7 million (approximately $9.4 million) in its first round of funding from Asterion Ventures, Bpifrance, Kreaxi, Better Angle, Hello Tomorrow, and Grenoble Alpes Métropole. Diamfab synthesizes value-added semiconductor and power component wafers using its epitaxial growth and doping synthetic diamond technology. It also designs diamond electronic components, claiming they are lighter and more energy-efficient than silicon devices, with characteristics of high-temperature, radiation, and high-voltage resistance. It targets the automotive, renewable energy, and quantum industries, and the funds will be used to establish a pilot production line and accelerate development. Diamfab was founded in 2019 as a spin-off from CNRS laboratory Institut Néel and is headquartered in Grenoble, France.Chiral Nano has secured $3.8 million in seed funding led by Founderful and HCVC, with support from ETH Zurich and Venture Kick. Chiral Nano is developing transistors based on nanomaterials, including across carbon nanotubes. It has designed a scalable manufacturing process to grow, select, and automatically integrate nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes or graphene into transistors in a fast, high-quality, and fully process-controlled manner. Chiral states that its nanotransistor technology is suitable for quantum processors, low-power sensors, and high-performance transistors. In addition to robotic assembly equipment for placing micro and nanoscale materials, the startup also offers foundry services. The funds will support the development of its next-generation robots. Founded in 2023, it is a spin-off from ETH Zurich and Empa, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

Gaianixx has added an additional 350 million yen (approximately $2.4 million) to its previous 1 billion yen Series B funding round, with investments from JIC Venture Growth Investments, Alconix Corporation, and SMBC Venture Capital, bringing the total funding to 1.35 billion yen. Gaianixx has developed an epitaxy technology that utilizes a dynamic lattice matching mechanism to grow high-quality single crystals in multilayer structures. Its versatile interlayer technology can be applied to semiconductor wafers, including MEMS, power devices, and LEDs, as well as piezoelectric and ceramic thin films. The funds will be used for research and development, mass production, and recruitment. It was established in 2021 as a spin-off from the University of Tokyo, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Membrion will receive up to $100,000 in pilot project funding from 100+ Accelerator. The company produces electroceramic desalination membranes for semiconductor and industrial wastewater treatment, claiming that its membranes can recover up to 98% of water under harsh conditions (such as high temperatures, low pH ranges, and challenging trace chemicals). Founded in 2016, the company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA.

Testing, Measurement, and Inspection

Robovision raised $42 million in Series A funding led by Target Global and Astanor Ventures, with Red River West as a follow-on investor. Robovision provides a deep learning computer vision platform for a range of industries. For semiconductors, it can connect with DUV, electron beam, and optical solutions to perform online automatic defect classification (ADC) on wafers at nodes below 10 nanometers. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium.

Power Devices

e-peas Semiconductors secured €17.5 million (approximately $19 million) in funding, led by Otium Capital, with new investors Nomainvest and EICFund, as well as existing investors KBC Focus Fund, The Faktory, Wallonie Entreprendre, Noshaq-Leansquare, and Invest BW. e-peas offers ultra-low power management ICs for energy harvesting, capable of collecting and managing energy from environmental sources such as light, radio frequency, temperature gradients, or vibrations. It also provides ultra-low power microcontrollers and imagers. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium.Photonics and Optics

Celestial AI attracted $175 million in Series C funding led by the US Innovation Technology Fund, with participation from AMD Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Temasek and its subsidiary XoraInnovation, IAG Capital Partners, Samsung Catalyst, Smart Global Holdings, Porsche Automobil Holding, Engine Ventures, M-Ventures, and Tyche Partners. Celestial AI offers a photonic technology that enables optical addressing for storage and computation both within and between chips. Its photonic interconnects are not limited by packaging and can transmit data to any location on the compute chip. The company claims that its photonic network provides exabyte per second bandwidth for compute-to-compute and compute-to-storage connections, nanosecond-level latency, and has achieved decoupling of compute and storage in hyperscale data centers. The technology is compatible with standards including CXL, PCIe, UCIe, HBM, and proprietary telecommunication communication links. The funds will be used for executing customer collaboration projects and commercialization. The company was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA.

EFFECT Photonics secured $38 million in Series D funding, led by Innovation Industries Strategy Partners Fund and Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, with participation from other existing investors. EFFECT Photonics designs photonic optical systems and pluggable transceiver modules for high-speed fiber in telecommunications and data communication networks. Its technology utilizes integrated optical SoC with digital signal processing and forward error correction technology, combined with ultra-pure, tunable light sources. The funds will be used to accelerate development, commercialization, and production. It is a spin-off from Eindhoven University of Technology, founded in 2010, and headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Oriole Networks received £10 million (approximately $12.6 million) in seed funding, led by UCL Technology Fund, Clean Growth Fund, XTX Ventures, and Dorilton Ventures. Oriole Networks uses optical networking to connect thousands of GPUs to enhance the speed of training large language models (LLMs), while reducing latency and improving energy efficiency. It is a spin-off from University College London, founded in 2023, and headquartered in London, UK.

Quintessent raised $11.5 million in seed funding, led by Osage University Partners, with M Ventures and existing investors Sierra Ventures, Foothill Ventures, and Entrada Ventures following. Quintessent develops optical interconnects based on multi-wavelength quantum dot comb lasers as part of a heterogeneous silicon photonics technology stack. The startup claims that its interconnects for data center compute and switching chips reduce power consumption and the number of components required, while multiplying bandwidth density. The company was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, USA.

Quantum Computing

Maybell Quantum raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Cerberus Ventures. Maybell manufactures cryogenic dilution refrigerators and wiring solutions for quantum computing infrastructure. The funds will be used to scale up production and open new production facilities. It was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, USA.

SensorsSteerLight secured €32 million (approximately $35 million) in equity and loan financing, led by Stellantis Ventures along with Quantonation, LIFTT, and Bpifrance. SteerLight develops a silicon photonic LiDAR chip with integrated laser and detection mechanisms on a single die. Initially focused on industrial applications, including autonomous robots, the company plans to expand into infrastructure solutions, smart cities, and mobility. Founded in 2022, SteerLight is a subsidiary of CEA-Leti and is headquartered in Grenoble, France.

Display and AR/VR

MICLEDI Microdisplays raised $25 million in Series A funding from imec.xpand, PMV, imec, KBC, and SFPIM. MICLEDI manufactures microLED arrays and display modules for the AR market, including smart glasses and automotive HUDs. Its product line includes gallium nitride-based blue, green, and red microLED arrays, as well as aluminum indium gallium phosphide-based red microLED arrays. The funds will be used for the design and construction of active backplane ASICs, the creation of fully functional microLED display modules, and recruitment. The company, founded in 2019, is a spin-off from imec and is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium.

Automotive

Applied Intuition raised $250 million in Series E funding, led by Porsche Investments Management, individual investor Bilal Zuberi, and Elad Gil, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and other individual investors. Applied Intuition provides a development platform for the creation and testing of ADAS and autonomous driving systems in automotive, trucking, construction, mining, and agriculture sectors. Its toolchain includes synthetic data generation and data mining, scenario simulation and perception systems, motion planning and control development, sensor suite design, verification/confirmation, and driver data management. The funds will be used for computational infrastructure, hiring, and expanding its product portfolio. The company, founded in 2017, is headquartered in Mountain View, California, USA.

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