• Swiss semiconductor startup Synthara raises $5.5m in financing and $5.9M in grants to increase compute performance of embedded chips by orders of magnitude.
• Synthara’s ComputeRAM^TM enables general-purpose embedded chips to address a wide variety of AI-rich applications, lowering costs and time to market and creating new opportunities for chipmakers and device makers.
• The round is led by leading European deep tech investor Vsquared Ventures, with OTB Ventures, Hermann Hauser’s Onsight Ventures, and Deeptech Labs joining in the round along with existing investors.
• ComputeRAM^TM will be showcased at Synthara's booths at the Design Automation Conference (#2552) in San Francisco between June 24 and 27 and at the RISC-V summit in Munich between June 24 and 28.

Zurich, Switzerland June  2024 - Synthara, a Swiss semiconductor innovator, today announces the successful closing of over $11 million in funding through investments and European and Swiss grants to bring in-memory computing to the mass market. The round is led by Vsquared Ventures, with OTB Ventures, Hermann Hauser’s Onsight Ventures, Deep Tech Labs, along with existing investors such as High-Tech Gründerfonds, DeepIE, Excellis, ZKB and first investor and early believer Sandeep Raju. Hermann Hauser also joined the company as an advisor. This funding will enable Synthara to introduce its groundbreaking patent-pending product, ComputeRAM^TM, to embedded computing applications.

There is an explosion of AI-rich embedded applications such as robotics, sensing, and wearables, with the space worth over $200B today and growing at over 15% CAGR. The issue: these applications are too complex for conventional embedded chips. Embedded device makers are sorting through an increasingly complex ecosystem of hardware and software products, resulting in increasing costs and time to market. These problems cannot be addressed without a paradigm shift in computing technology. By enhancing conventional on-chip memories with computing capabilities, ComputeRAM^TM enables micro-controllers that are 100x better, both in terms of energy efficiency and latency. These high-performance and flexible micro-controller chips can address a broad set of AI-rich applications, thereby lowering costs, and time to market, creating new opportunities for the chipmakers and device makers.

Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from the Institute of Neuroinformatics at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, Synthara is based on the doctoral research of Dr. Manu V. Nair and Dr. Alessandro Aimar.

Manu V Nair, Co-Founder and CEO of Synthara, said: “With ComputeRAM^TM, we are looking to enable a new breed of feature-rich products that are only limited by the creativity of the developers. This founding round empowers us to work closely with our early adopter community as they develop game-changing chips and devices.”

“The rise of AI is a societal and economic disruption on par with the great industrial revolutions of the past.” observes Synthara’s Founder and CTO Dr. Alessandro Aimar. “As traditional semiconductor companies struggle to adapt to this new reality, Synthara aims to establish Europe as the leading force in this transformation and become the global reference for AI and advanced computing hardware.”

Hermann Hauser, founder of Acron Computers and ARM and advisor to Synthara, said: “The seamless integration of in-memory computing into existing chip designs is a game-changer, significantly enhancing capabilities and performance. This advancement is particularly relevant for AI applications, where the need for faster, more efficient processing is paramount. I believe we are at the knee of the curve, poised to enter an era of unprecedented growth. This technology will serve an ever-expanding market, driving innovation and enabling breakthroughs across various industries."

Patrick Tucci, Principal at Vsquared Ventures said: “We are about to witness a paradigm shift in computing, with in-memory-computing leading the charge. The bottleneck of data movement is especially noticeable in edge applications. Here, smart devices need to run complex, concurrent algorithms. This problem is compounded by space limitations and low power requirements. To continue advancing and fostering innovation, we require high-performance, drop-in solutions such as Synthara’s ComputeRAM^TM. We look forward to partnering with Manu and the team at Synthara as they unlock new opportunities by bringing in-memory-computing to market at scale.”

Karol Szubstarski, Partner at OTB Ventures, adds: “The emerging in-memory computing (IMC) paradigm is set to transform the industry, enabling it to bypass the data transfer bottlenecks in conventional chip architectures that affect energy consumption, performance & latency. Synthara enables easy integration of the underlying principles of IMC technology into existing chip design without any disruptive alterations to the architecture. As such, the company is very well positioned to spearhead the change within the industry, providing immediate performance gains at a limited energy budget across multiple product categories and unlocking new use cases (e.g. real-time voice processing on the edge in hearing aids). We are super excited to embark on this journey with the Synthara team.”

In addition to raising venture capital, Synthara is involved in several significant European projects, targeting advanced computing and next-generation AI applications (Rebecca, Centric, and Tristan). The company has also secured substantial funding from Innosuisse and SERI, including a recent CHF 2.5 million Swiss Accelerator grant to advance next-generation edge AI chips. The team of 20 is based in Zurich. Previous investors include HTGF, DeepIE, Excellis, and ZKB.

About OTB Ventures

OTB Ventures is a European VC focused on DeepTech, investing in early growth startups (late Seed, Series A, and B) that develop unique technologies in 4 verticals: SpaceTech, Enterprise Automation & AI, FinTech Infrastructure and Cybersecurity, portfolio include ICEYE, Hydrosat, Silent Eight, KYP.ai. Established in 2017, OTB Ventures currently manages over $350 million and has offices in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Warsaw (Poland). www.otb.vc

About Onsight Ventures

Onsight Ventures is an European deep tech fund at the forefront of early-stage investments in cutting-edge technologies, specializing in Semiconductors, Quantum Computing, AI, SynBio and TechBio. The fund is backed by ARM co-founder Hermann Hauser and BioNTech co-founder Christoph Huber. www.onsight.vc

About Silicon Catalyst “It’s about what’s next”

Silicon Catalyst is the world’s only incubator focused exclusively on accelerating semiconductor solutions, built on a comprehensive coalition of in-kind and strategic partners to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of development. More than 1000 startup companies worldwide have engaged with Silicon Catalyst and the company has admitted over 100 exciting companies. With a world-class network of mentors to advise startups, Silicon Catalyst is helping new semiconductor companies address the challenges in moving from idea to realization. The incubator/accelerator supplies startups with access to design tools, silicon devices, networking, and a path to funding, banking and marketing acumen to successfully launch and grow their company’s novel technology solutions. Over the past nine years, the Silicon Catalyst model has been proven to dramatically accelerate a startup’s trajectory while at the same time de-risking the equation for investors.