Artificial intelligence-backed chip startup SiMa.ai has secured $37 million (around Rs 296 crore) in an extended Series B1 round led by MSD Partners, an investment firm backed by Dell Technologies’ founder and CEO Michael Dell.
The round also saw participation from existing partners including, Amplify Partners, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Dell Technologies Capital, Wing Venture Capital, Alter Venture Partners, +ND Capital and entrepreneur Lip-Bu Tan.
The California and Bengaluru-based company will use the fresh funds to scale up hiring and critical functions globally.
SiMa’s latest fundraise is an extension of its $30 million Series B round closed in May. So far, it has raised $187 million.
Founded in November 2018 by Krishna Rangasayee, SiMa.ai offers a machine learning (ML) system on chip platform. It helps its customers in integrating ML inference in embedded edge applications, focusing on areas such as smart vision, robotics and autonomous systems.
“This latest funding allows us to build upon our product strength and customer momentum, while scaling the company more aggressively than we originally planned and validating our ability to disrupt the embedded edge industry by bringing effortless machine learning to this multi-trillion-dollar market,” said Rangasayee.
“We are excited to invest in SiMa.ai and the team led by Krishna Rangasayee at this pivotal time in the wider adoption of machine learning,” said Victor Hwang, Managing Director and Co-Head, MSD Growth.
“SiMa.ai is just at its beginning but has already accomplished a tremendous amount in a short period of time.”
New York-based MSD Partners, managing assets over $20 billion, deploys capital on behalf of Michael Dell and his family, as well as other like-minded, long-term-oriented investors. The company had previously invested in companies as 6Sense, Fanatics, Flexport, Guesty, iCapital, Stripe and Verkada.
“We have participated in every round of funding since SiMa.ai’s initial round,” said Mike Dauber, General Partner, Amplify Partners.
“SiMa.ai has continued to gain our vote of confidence with their incredible team-building, execution and progress. We strongly believe they will bring a new product category to the embedded edge market with their purpose-built MLSoC platform.”
