optoML raises $1.8 million Pre-Series A round led by Bluehill and A99

SOC semiconductor startup optoML has raised $1.8 million in a Pre-Series A funding round led by deep-tech venture capital firms Bluehill and A99.

The company will use the funds to hire more people and begin work on its next-generation chips after completing its tape-out process with TSMC. The deal will be finalized after receiving regulatory approval.

Speaking on the investment, Manu Iyer, General Partner, Bluehill.VC, says, “India’s deep-tech ecosystem is really coming into its own and semiconductors is an area where we are seeing fantastic progress. optoML, a fabless semicon company, sits at the intersection of two irreversible shifts in compute — analog in-memory compute architectures and optical interconnects. As AI workloads scale from the edge to hyperscalers, energy efficiency, latency, and bandwidth are becoming first-order constraints. optoML’s 12nm tapeout with TSMC and its partnership with Kaynes Semicon mark a critical transition from research to real silicon and scalable production. We believe this is the kind of deep-tech platform that can meaningfully reshape the cost and efficiency curve of AI infrastructure. And these frugal innovations with a clear commercial use case will define India’s global AI dominance.”

Vignesh S, General Partner of a99 says “We at a99 are thrilled to invest and be a part of the optoML juggernaut. As AI workloads move to the edge, power efficiency becomes the real constraint. optoML’s analog-in-memory approach is designed to address exactly that  shifting how AI inference can be delivered at lower energy and cost. We believe foundational semiconductor IP in AI infrastructure will matter a lot over the next decade, and this is a step in that direction for our investment thesis at a99.”

Saravana M, Founder & CEO, optoML adds "We are excited to have Manu Iyer partnering closely with us, bringing deep experience in successful early stage deep tech investments and helping guide our path from test chip success to commercial viability, customer deployments, and scaled production. Bluehill and a99's conviction will put us on a path to clear productization, qualification, and real world impact, turning efficient AI compute into deployable systems."

optoML was founded by Saravana Maruthamuthu, who has 17 years of experience in the semiconductor and systems industry. He has spent around 10 years working in Germany.

During his career, he has worked with companies like Intel, Qualcomm, Continental, and Isar Aerospace. His experience includes advanced chip technologies, analog mixed-signal design, and production-grade platforms.

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