The European start-up establishes itself in the heart of Silicon Valley, secures nearly 100 requests for product samples, and embarks on an aggressive growth trajectory in North America to capitalize on strong customer momentum.
SILICON VALLEY, Calif. and Eindhoven, Netherlands – May 22, 2023 – Axelera AI, the world’s most powerful and advanced solution provider for AI at the edge, has announced new investors in an oversubscribed Series A round, bringing its total funding to $50 million. CDP Venture Capital, Verve Ventures and Fractionelera have participated in the rounds in the past few months. The latter consortium of investors was created specifically to fund Axelera AI. Innovation Industries increased its investment in the company, becoming the largest investor. Despite the challenging funding environment, this highlights the company’s potential and market traction.
The funding will support the global expansion and mass production of Axelera AI’s first generation AI acceleration platform leveraging disruptive in-memory computing and RISC-V controlled dataflow technology. A few months after the product launch, over 350 customers expressed interest, nearly 100 requested samples for testing, and over 50 signed up for the company’s Early Access Program (EAP). There are still a few weeks left in this program. EAP helps customers develop next-generation computer vision products by offering benefits such as collaborative hardware design as well as expert software and machine learning support.
Axelera AI began its domestic expansion with the addition of Jonathan Barron as non-executive chairman and Silicon Valley marketing veteran Sander Ertz as a marketing advisor. The company is also actively hiring a Global Vice President of Sales, a Business Developer, and a Technical Support Team.
“In just 20 months, we have achieved incredible results, including tape production of two state-of-the-art AI chips, funding totaling $50 million, influential partnerships and design wins with industry-leading customers. We are thrilled to welcome new investors to our ranks, which is a testament to our pioneering technology and the unwavering trust that investors place in our outstanding team. Axelera AI CEO, Fabrizio del Maffeo.
“We are pleased to announce that Axelera, an Italian-led European giant that is expanding its R&D department in its Milan office by bringing its know-how and expertise to highly strategic markets of the future such as semiconductors. We are proud to contribute to the growth of AI,” said Mario Scuderi, Senior Partner and Head of Evolution Fund at CDP Venture Capital.
“We believe Axelera AI is uniquely positioned to capture the rapidly developing edge AI market with its powerful combination of next-generation hardware and software. We have been able to push the technology to commercial levels at a fast pace, and we are thrilled to be part of this future European semiconductor champion’s journey,” said Emma Schepers, senior investment associate at Verve Ventures. increase.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to invest as a collective of individuals in a company that is at the forefront of innovation in the semiconductor industry. We are confident in Axelera AI’s potential to deliver breakthrough solutions that will shape the future of the industry,” said a Fractionelera representative..
“As one of the first investors in Axelera AI, we are delighted to have an even stronger investor joining us on this journey. is perfectly positioned for strong growth and we look forward to building this company together with the management team and investors,” said Sander Verbruegh, partner at Innovation Industries. .
Dr. Massimo Vangi was recently appointed to the Board of Directors, reinforcing 45 years of experience in deep and semiconductor technology.
At the Embedded Vision Summit 2023 in Santa Clara, May 22-24, Axelera AI will unveil the Metis AI platform and demonstrate its value proposition. Axelera AI CEO and management will attend the event.
About Axela AI
Axelera AI provides the world’s most powerful and advanced solutions for AI at the edge. The revolutionary Metis™ AI Platform, a comprehensive hardware and software solution to AI interference at the edge, makes computer vision applications more accessible, powerful and user-friendly than ever before. Headquartered at the AI Innovation Center on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven (Netherlands), Axelera AI has R&D offices in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and the UK, and in 14 countries he has over 120 employees. increase. Our team of AI software and hardware experts hail from top AI companies and Fortune 500 companies.
For more information on Axelera AI, please visit www.axelera.ai.
About CDP Venture Capital
CDP Venture Capital is an asset management company (70% owned by CDP Equity and 30% owned by Invitalia) with over €3 billion in assets under management. It aims to make venture capital a strategic pillar of Italy’s economic development and innovation and to create the conditions for an inclusive and sustainable growth of the venture capital ecosystem. It operates through a series of funds aimed at supporting startups in all stages of their lifecycle, making direct and indirect investments.
For CDP Venture Capital, operations were overseen by Mario Scuderi, Federico Clementi and Gregorio Gaspari, senior partners, investment managers and analysts at Evolution Fund.
For more information on CDP Venture Capital, please visit www.cdpventurecapital.it.
About Verve Ventures
Verve Ventures is a network and technology driven venture capital firm based in Switzerland. Founded in 2010 by Steffen Wagner and Lukas Weber, Verve Ventures is Europe’s most active venture investor, with a team that has grown to his 50 people and nearly 150 tech-driven startups in its portfolio. of he became one. A dozen investment professionals identify the most promising digital, tangible, health and biotech startups. Selected retail and institutional investors can access investment opportunities through digital platforms. Since the seed stage, the company has invested between €500,000 and several million in start-ups across Europe. Verve Ventures’ dedicated team helps startups with their most pressing needs, including hiring, client referrals, and celebrity expert networks. To join Verve Ventures’ growing community of entrepreneurs and investors, visit verve.vc.
About Fraction Herrera
Fractionelera is a consortium created specifically to fund Axelera AI, made up of several experienced investors and entrepreneurs. Consortium members have a track record of investing in startups from the seed stage to the growth stage.
About Innovation Industry: Innovation Industries is a deep tech venture capital investor that invests in high tech, agri & food tech and medical technology businesses. Today, Innovation Industries manages up to over €475 million in assets across his three funds and has a team of 15 investment professionals. The largest investors are the Dutch pension funds PME and PMT. Innovation Industries invests from seed to late stage and partners with all Dutch technical universities and research institutes TNO. For more information on Innovation Industries, please visit www.innovationindustries.com.
