Calligo Tech Pockets Funding To Build Its Second Silicon Chip

Mosaic Wellness Nets $20 Mn From Think Investments

SUMMARY

Bengaluru-based semiconductor startup Calligo Technologies raised $1.1 Mn in Pre-Series A funding led by Seafund and Artha Venture Fund.

Funds will be used to build Calligo Tech’s second semiconductor chip, expand its engineering team, and strengthen industry partnerships.

Founded in 2012, Calligo Tech develops chips and software aimed at improving computing efficiency in high-performance computing (HPC), big data, and AI.

Bengaluru-based semiconductor startup Calligo Technologies has raised $1.1 Mn (around INR 9.4 Cr) in a Pre-Series A funding round co-led by Seafund and Artha Venture Fund.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to build its second version of silicon chip, expand engineering talent and foster partnerships with system integrators and OEMs/ODMs.

Founded by Anantha Kinnal, Rajaraman Subramanian and Vinay N Hebbali in 2012, Calligo Tech develops hardware and software products for high performance computing (HPC), big data and AI workloads.

“Insatiable demand for computing for HPC/AI has thus far been addressed by adding more and more hardware, without addressing computing efficiency at grass-root levels,” Kinnal said.

CalligoTech’s latest silicon chip, TUNGA, is an eight-core processor based on the open-source RISC-V architecture. It powers an accelerator card, a hardware component that enhances the performance of servers.

This accelerator card can easily be added to servers running on standard processors like Intel’s X86, ARM or PowerPC.

India’s Semiconductor Mission 2.0

This funding comes at a time when India’s semiconductor sector is witnessing a rapid growth and the government is planning to launch the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission.

The ISM 2.0 will also potentially offer support to gases and other elements needed for chip production.

The Centre launched the Semicon India programme in 2021, with an outlay of INR 76,000 Cr, to incentivise silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors and more.

A year after that, ISM was introduced to establish India as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design.

In February, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted that the first “made-in-India” chip would be rolled out from a commercial fab by September or October this year.

Recently, Electronics and IT ministry (MeitY) secretary S Krishnan said that India’s semiconductor demand will likely reach $100-110 Bn by 2030 from the current demand of $45–50 Bn.

The homegrown semiconductor market is expected to become a $150 Bn opportunity by 2030, as per Inc42.