Synthara, a Swiss semiconductor innovator, announced the successful closing of €10.5 million in funding through investments and European and Swiss grants to bring in-memory computing to the mass market. The round is led by Vsquared Ventures, with OTB Ventures, Hermann Hauser’s Onsight Ventures, Deep Tech Labs, along with existing investors such as High-Tech Gründerfonds, DeepIE, Excellis, ZKB and first investor and early believer Sandeep Raju. Hermann Hauser also joined the company as an advisor. This funding will enable Synthara to introduce its groundbreaking patent-pending product, ComputeRAM, to embedded computing applications.
There is an explosion of AI-rich embedded applications such as robotics, sensing, and wearables, with the space worth over $200 billion today and growing at over 15% CAGR. The issue: these applications are too complex for conventional embedded chips. Embedded device makers are sorting through an increasingly complex ecosystem of hardware and software products, resulting in increasing costs and time to market. These problems cannot be addressed without a paradigm shift in computing technology. By enhancing conventional on-chip memories with computing capabilities, ComputeRAM enables micro-controllers that are 100x better, both in terms of energy efficiency and latency. These high-performance and flexible micro-controller chips can address a broad set of AI-rich applications, thereby lowering costs, and time to market, creating new opportunities for the chipmakers and device makers.
Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from the Institute of Neuroinformatics at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, Synthara is based on the doctoral research of Dr Manu V Nair and Dr. Alessandro Aimar. Manu V Nair, Co-Founder and CEO of Synthara, said: “With ComputeRAM, we are looking to enable a new breed of feature-rich products that are only limited by the creativity of the developers. This founding round empowers us to work closely with our early adopter community as they develop game-changing chips and devices.”
Patrick Tucci, Principal at Vsquared Ventures, commented, “We are about to witness a paradigm shift in computing, with in-memory-computing leading the charge. The bottleneck of data movement is especially noticeable in edge applications. Here, smart devices need to run complex, concurrent algorithms. This problem is compounded by space limitations and low power requirements. To continue advancing and fostering innovation, we require high-performance, drop-in solutions such as Synthara’s ComputeRAM.”
In addition to raising venture capital, Synthara is involved in several significant European projects, targeting advanced computing and next-generation AI applications (Rebecca, Centric, and Tristan). The company has also secured substantial funding from Innosuisse and SERI, including a recent CHF 2.5 million Swiss Accelerator grant to advance next-generation edge AI chips. The team of 20 is based in Zurich. Previous investors include HTGF, DeepIE, Excellis, and ZKB.
