ChipFlow Pre-Seed Round Secures £1.2m Investment from InMotion Ventures

ChipFlow's funding Paves the Way for its Open-Source Innovation and Exciting Possibilities in the automotive sector as it looks to reduce chip development cycles and strengthen business resilience through the Next-Gen of Vehicles and Services.

03/08/2023

The automotive industry is known for its fierce competition and continuous evolution on a global scale. Innovation plays a pivotal role, now more than ever before. Consumer choices reflect a clear preference for brands and products that bring fresh and captivating offerings to the market, making rapid and distinctive innovation the key to success.

For manufacturers, staying at the forefront in this competitive landscape requires more than just focusing on vehicle design. It demands a comprehensive strategy that incorporates product and service quality, continuous performance improvements, as well as an increasing emphasis on data security and personalized customer experiences. This holistic approach not only fuels uniqueness that distinguishes brands, it nurtures innovation and ongoing advancement.

Unfortunately, relying too heavily on third-party chip design firms has slowed down semiconductor innovation. Resource-intensive research and development endeavors, spearheaded by a small pool of specialized engineers, have steered the industry towards commoditization instead of focusing on specificity. In this context, the semiconductor crisis took many manufacturers by surprise, finding them unprepared and ill-equipped to address the challenges.

This is where ChipFlow has a critical role to play; poised and ready to revolutionize the automotive sector by significantly enhancing the competitiveness and resilience of automotive Manufacturers like JLR.

‘We have been on an incredible growth journey to date, becoming what is undoubtedly the leading player in open-source silicon innovation. Our end-to-end platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solution enables manufacturers to use in-house software engineers to design and test custom ICs at a fraction of the cost and complexity. The platform enables hardware design using Amaranth, a Python-based language, and allows for customer simulation before connecting directly to foundries for production and delivery. 

This funding round, led by Fontinalis Partners with participation from Fuel Ventures and APX, is a resounding vote of confidence in our vision to become the leading platform for all OEMs and automotive players anywhere in the world. The endorsement of investment from JLR’s InMotion Ventures is a hugely positive moment that gives us the momentum as we look to revolutionize and democratize bespoke chip design.

The £1.2 million funding round underpins our ambition to make bespoke Chip design more accessible to smaller players who will depend on staying ahead of the innovation curve to future proof the business as an absolute necessity.  We want to be the dominant PaaS platform for all Manufacturers Globally, giving our customers ultimate control in how they design and manufacture their future.

Our strategy is straightforward yet ambitious. We will grow our reach, targeting European and US markets, scaling customers in automotive and consumer electronic markets as a start point and Industrial IoT, Robotics and Telecoms to follow.  While ChipFlow is still establishing its MVP, our goal is to launch our full offering in 2025 and plan revenue growth to +$40M revenue by 2028.

At the core of our endeavor lies a steadfast commitment to open source principles. By harnessing open source tools and methodologies, we aim to foster collaboration and innovation across the semiconductor landscape. Our platform-as-a-service model, built upon open source technologies, empowers companies to seamlessly transition from software to hardware development, facilitating the easy integration of custom chip solutions into their products.

Key to our strategy are projects like Amaranth, Yosys, and Coris, each playing a pivotal role in the chip design process. From algorithmic hardware design to synthesis and manufacturing, these open source tools form the bedrock of our platform and the key to unlocking unprecedented innovation in the industry.

The success of ChipFlow goes beyond mere metrics; it is evident in the enhanced features that our partners can provide to their customers, along with the control they gain over the supply chain. These aspects significantly contribute to long-term success and innovation within the automotive and chip manufacturing sector. By achieving these goals, not only will end customers experience benefits, the process of designing chips is expedited, leading to increased time to market and potential revenue generation.