Innatera, a leading innovator in ultra-low power neuromorphic processors, recently announced the oversubscription of its Series A funding round at $21 million. This funding includes the initial Series A investment of $16 million that the company announced in March this year, augmented by an additional $5 million from new investors who joined the round. This Series A extension was led by investors Innavest and InvestNL, who joined existing Series A investors, including EIC Fund, MIG Capital, Matterwave Ventures, and Delft Enterprises.
Innatera’s flagship product, which is the Spiking Neural Processor T1 (unveiled in January 2024) represents a paradigm shift in energy-efficient AI for sensor-edge applications. Integrating their proprietary event-driven computing engine alongside a conventional CNN accelerator and RISC-V CPU, the T1 is a comprehensive platform for sensor-agnostic ultra-low power AI in battery-powered devices. During its roadshows through 2023 and 2024, Innatera showcased its neuromorphic solutions applied to wearables, smart homes, and consumer electronics applications.
The oversubscribed Series A funding round reflects the growing demand for differentiated, energy-efficient approaches to AI at the edge, which is driven by the rapidly expanding sensors market and concerns over the environmental sustainability of processing large volumes of data in the cloud.
This additional funding round will accelerate the company towards its goal of bringing intelligence to a billion devices by 2030, which solidifies its position as a pioneer in the AI semiconductor landscape. And with multiple customer engagements on-going, the company says that traction for neuromorphic technologies has been growing steadily, as vendors start to develop true edge AI applications independent of the cloud.
Even though power-constrained applications have been at the center in most engagements, privacy, and latency concerns are also driving more customers down the neuromorphic path. And the Spiking Neural Processor is slated to enter production later in 2024, with high-volume deliveries starting in the second quarter of 2025.
Further supporting the company’s growth, Innatera today also announced that it had appointed veteran operations executive Duco Pasmooij, former VP at Apple, to its advisory board.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re thrilled by the overwhelming support from investors, which underscores the immense potential of our neuromorphic processors. Innatera’s latest offering is radical in terms of its architecture and its efficiency, yet it only scratches the surface of what neuromorphic computing can do for edge applications. I’m excited by the opportunities ahead of us, and the work we’ll be doing to leverage the full potential of this technology together with our customers and strategic partners. This Series A funding will accelerate our journey towards mass production and enable us to meet the burgeoning demand for energy-efficient computing solutions.”
– Sumeet Kumar, CEO of Innatera
“Innatera’s track-record is impressive – remarkable capital-efficiency, a fantastic team, and a product with the potential to touch every aspect of our lives. Innavest is excited to be able to bring in our strategic expertise and network to help Innatera’s mission.”
– Kjelle Blom, managing partner of Innavest, a consortium of private investors and entrepreneurs
“Silicon innovations like the Spiking Neural Processor T1 are essential for unlocking value for ODMs in the consumer electronics space. Yet, the path to the market is much like walking a tightrope. I’m delighted to be able to advise the executive team at Innatera in taking this inspiring product to the market.”
– Duco Pasmooij
