Axelera AI raises $27m for in-memory computing at the edge
Dutch startup Axelera AI has raised $27m for production of its in-memory AI chip for edge applications next year.
The Series A investment round will also see a new chairman in Jonathan Ballon, former Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Edge AI and IoT business.
“Every industry is on the precipice of creating unprecedented breakthroughs in customer value by harnessing the world’s exponentially growing data set. To do so will require technology that is purpose-built for the task. Axelera AI’s groundbreaking AI platforms promise to usher in this new era in computing, and I am privileged to work alongside the leadership team and fellow Board members to accelerate the company’s trajectory.” said Ballon.
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The funding will support Axelera AI’s launch and mass production of its first-generation AI acceleration platform. Axelera AI will also further expand its team of 80 staff, with new offices in Bristol, UK and Milan, Italy. The company plans to expand to the United States and Taiwan this year.
Earlier this year the company taped-out its first testbench chip, Thetis Core, developed entirely in-house. This delivered 39.3 TOPS with an efficiency of 14.1 TOPs/W at an INT8 precision in less than 9 square millimetres.
The company says it has made significant progress in its software stack as well, which will allow customers to easily run their neural networks on Axelera AI’s accelerator without any model retraining. Axelera says its products will be fully integrated with the leading open-sourced AI frameworks when it launches to select customers and partners in early 2023.
“Our extraordinary team merges complementary expertise in deep learning, in-memory computing, dataflow architecture and AI software with a proven track record of business success. We look forward to launching new AI solutions across the globe that will address the demanding requirements of AI applications at the edge,” said Evangelos Eleftheriou, CTO and co-founder of Axelera AI.
“The closing of this investment round comes just few months after our announcement of the Thetis Core, which proved to the AI community the advantages of our technology. The strong commitment of our investors only further confirms that there is space and need in the European AI landscape for a leader. We are excited to take on this responsibility and are determined to strengthen Europe’s presence in the global AI sector,” said Fabrizio del Maffeo, CEO and co-founder of Axelera AI.
The funding round was led by existing investor Innovation Industries and joined by existing investor imec.xpand and the Federal Holding and Investment Company of Belgium (SFPIM). In addition, the Netherland Enterprise Agency (RVO) awarded Axelera AI with $6.7 million of Innovation Credit (Innovatiekrediet), a special loan reserved for highly innovative and impactful projects, commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.
“Axelera AI is a unique Dutch start-up on a journey to deliver a disruptive AI chip that will accelerate the application of AI at the ‘edge of IOT’,” said Sander Verbrugge, Partner at Innovation Industries. “Affordable AI compute power operating at low power is essential to unlock the full potential of AI in our everyday lives.”
“Axelera AI has brought together a stellar team and, as such unites several distinct in-memory compute efforts from across Europe under one roof. We very much look forward to continuing our support of the company and the team and help them to achieve their ambitious goals by leveraging imec.xpand’s cross-border, value-add platform and network,” said Cyril Vančura, Partner at imec.xpand.
Axelera AI was originally incubated by Bitfury Group. Brian Brooks, CEO of Bitfury Group said, “Axelera AI is a jewel in our portfolio of innovative ventures. We are incredibly proud of the software/hardware integrated solution the team is building. This round validates both the promise of Axelera AI and Bitfury’s strategy of creating diversified technology breakthroughs across a wide range of industry segments.”
Axelera AI will shortly announce its first product and begin raising for its Series B later this year.
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