FPGA startup Rapid Silicon gets $15 million to bring its first chip to market • TechCrunch

Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or off-the-shelf integrated circuits, are a hot topic in technology. Because they are relatively affordable and can be programmed for a variety of use cases, they have entered the AI ​​and machine learning space, particularly where they are used to accelerate the training of AI systems.

According to one estimate, the global FPGA market size could reach $14 billion by 2028, from $6 billion in 2021.

One startup looking to get off the ground is Rapid Silicon, which announced this week that it has raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Cambium Capital. In the year Launched in 2021, Rapid Silicon’s goal is to introduce, adopt and implement open source technology to address the low- to mid-range FPGA market, said CEO and founder Navid Sherwani.

“FastSilicon … software will lead the programming revolution as the industry’s first and only commercial open source FPGA design suite,” he said in an email interview. “The latest funding will be used to further invest in Rapid Silicon’s product portfolio, support the launch of its flagship low-end FPGA product, and advance the company’s initiative in leading open source software for commercial applications.”

Rapid Silicon is currently developing two products: Raptor and Gemini. Raptor is electronic design automation software with a design interface for FPGA applications, including Gemini’s 16-nanometer FPGA dual-core ARM processor, external memory controller, and Ethernet connectivity. Sherwani emphasized that Rapid is based on open source software — another industry first, according to him — and is designed to meet the needs of FPGA developers to solve challenges in sectors such as healthcare, automotive and industrial.

Sherwani added, “Customers are looking for new ways to program FPGAs, leveraging an open source ecosystem of active experts and development engineers to reduce support burden and shorten time to market. “With open source software, Rapid Silicon is removing barriers and providing its customers with a robust end-to-end FPGA design workflow. Open source software enables users to design complex applications on our FPGA devices faster and more efficiently.”

Gemini is not commercially available, but Sherwani says he expects the FPGA to come to market by the end of Q1. Meanwhile, Rapid Silicon is making between $2 million and $3 million a year from licensing its IP.

The FPGA space has formidable competitors, including Intel, which acquired UK-based Omnitek and Altera several years ago to double down on FPGA-based solutions for video and AI applications. But Landon Downs, managing partner at Cambium Capital, said he sees “huge” potential in Rapid Silicon’s device and hardware strategy. While this may sound like a lot of energy coming from a VC, it’s clear that Rapid Silicon has piqued the interest of investors. The company expects to close a $15 million Series A extension in the next few months at a pre-funding valuation of $80 million.

“Driven by its mission and world-class talent, we believe Rapid Silicon is poised to transform the design-to-silicon turnaround time and deliver solutions that meet performance, power, environmental and time-to-market requirements for next-generation applications,” he said in a press release. We see great potential in the company’s AI-enhanced EDA tools, and we believe this team has the experience needed to bring these solutions to the global market.”