Semiconductors are on a pretty good run right now.
San Jose, California-based DreamBig Semiconductor became the second chip startup this week to raise big — locking up a $75 million equity round co-led by the Samsung Catalyst Fund and Sehat Sutardja.
On Monday, Santa Clara, California-based Halo Industries, a developer of a laser manufacturing technology platform for the semiconductor industry, raised an $80 million Series B led by U.S. Innovative Technology Fund.
DreamBig, founded in 2019, develops chiplet platforms and its specialties include applications in large language models, generative AI and more. The company has raised nearly $93 million, per Crunchbase data.
AI boon
The semiconductor industry seems to be riding the current AI craze, as the market looks for specialized generative AI chips that are more cost-effective and energy-efficient, but also faster.
The DreamBig raise is just the latest big round in the industry. Besides the Halo round, San Francisco-based Etched.ai locked up a $120 million round led by Positive Sum and Primary Venture Partners late last month.
Other big deals in 2024 include:
- This month Black Semiconductor raised nearly $275 million — mainly from the German government.
- In March, optical interconnectivity startup Celestial AI raised a massive $175 million Series C led by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund. Celestial’s photonic fabric platform helps separate compute and memory, making processing extensive AI faster and more energy-efficient.
- In February, San Jose, California-based Recogni, which is developing its AI inference chip for both the generative AI and automotive industries, raised a $102 million Series C co-led by Celesta Capital and GreatPoint Ventures.
Overall, venture funding to semiconductor chip startups continues to be strong. Thus far in 2024, VC-backed chip startups have raised nearly $5.7 billion in just 210 deals, per Crunchbase data.
Last year, startups saw less than $10.4 billion in 498 deals.
Related Crunchbase Pro list:
Related reading:
- AI Chip Startup Etched Captures $120M In Hot Market
- Generative AI Chip Designer Recogni Locks Up $102M
- Chip Startup Celestial AI Lands Massive $175M Series C
- Semiconductor Startup Funding Looks To Bounce Back After Lackluster 2023
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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