Silicon Valley, California, November 18, 2020 - Silicon Catalyst, the world’s only incubator focused exclusively on semiconductor solutions, announced today the continued expansion of its In-Kind Partner ecosystem with the addition of OnScale, the leading provider of Cloud-Based CAE simulation. The partnership accelerates the development of complex mechanical and 3D structures through the OnScale cloud-based design environment. Silicon Catalyst portfolio companies will gain access to the OnScale tool suite, which enables fast and extensive simulation, and reduces costly engineering issues before tape-out.
The mission of Silicon Catalyst is to lower the capital expenses associated with the design and fabrication of silicon-based IC’s, Sensors, and MEMS devices. For over five years, the Silicon Catalyst partner ecosystem has enabled early-stage companies to build complex silicon chips at a fraction of the typical cost.
Silicon Catalyst has created a unique ecosystem to provide critical support to semiconductor hardware start-ups, including tools and services from a comprehensive network of In-Kind Partners (IKPs) to dramatically reduce the cost of chip development. The Portfolio Companies in the incubator utilize IKP tools and services including design tools, simulation software, design services, foundry PDK access and MPW runs, test program development, tester access, and banking and legal services. Additionally, the startups can tap into the world-class Silicon Catalyst network of advisors and investors.
“In recent years, Silicon Catalyst has engaged with a growing number of companies developing ultrasonic MEMS devices and high-frequency resonators,” said Pete Rodriguez, CEO of Silicon Catalyst. “OnScale has consistently been the requested simulation and Digital Prototype solution. We’re pleased to now have OnScale’s support in our ecosystem.”
“Early stage MEMS and semi startups can no longer rely on costly, time-consuming, and risky physical prototyping - I learned that lesson the hard way at my first MEMS startup, NextInput,” says Ian Campbell, CEO at OnScale. “Digital Prototyping with OnScale allows MEMS and semi designers to simulate, evaluate and optimize device designs while minimizing the overall cost, risk, and time-to-market compared with physical prototyping processes. We are very excited to partner with Silicon Catalyst and help drive the next wave in silicon startups.”
One such MEMS startup, Geegah, uses OnScale for digital prototyping of next-gen MEMS-based biometric sensors. "OnScale has been instrumental in allowing Geegah to optimize our devices. The support is fantastic," says Amit Lal, CEO of Geegah.
The OnScale and Silicon Catalyst partnership expects to see many more examples of MEMS startups leveraging digital prototyping techniques to drive down cost, risk, and time-to-market. “We’re very excited to see how the new crop of MEMS and Semi startups will leverage OnScale and the other resources at Silicon Catalyst to bring the world innovative new hardware technologies,” says Paul Pickering, Managing Partner at Silicon Catalyst and MEMS angel investor.
About OnScale
OnScale is the first and only Cloud Engineering Simulation platform. OnScale combines powerful multiphysics solver technology with the limitless compute power of cloud supercomputers. With OnScale, engineers can run massive numbers of full 3D multiphysics simulations in parallel to create true Digital Prototypes – digital representations of physical high-tech devices that capture the complete behavior of a device over its operating envelope. By shifting expensive and time-consuming physical prototyping to digital prototyping, OnScale massively reduces cost, risk, and time-to-market for R&D firms pushing the boundaries of new technology. OnScale™ is the Future of Engineering™. Visit
www.OnScale.com to try out the platform today.
OnScale, OnScale Solve, and the Future of Engineering are either registered trademarks or trademarks of OnScale, Inc. Other product or brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
About Silicon Catalyst
It’s About What’s Next® - Silicon Catalyst is the world’s only incubator focused exclusively on semiconductor solutions (incl. IP, MEMs and Sensors), building a coalition of in-kind and strategic partners to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of development. More than 350 startup companies have engaged with Silicon Catalyst since April 2015, with a total of 35 startup and early-stage companies admitted to the incubator. 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 a path to design tools, silicon devices, networking, access to funding, banking and marketing acumen to successfully launch and grow their companies’ novel technology solutions. The Silicon Catalyst Angels was established in July 2019 as a separate organization to provide access to seed and Series A funding for Silicon Catalyst portfolio companies.
Media Contacts:
Valerio Marra, PhD, VP of Marketing & Sales
Silicon Catalyst Richard Curtin, Managing Partner