Semiconductor Startup Mindgrove Bags $8 Mn From Rocketship.vc, Speciale Invest

Fabless semiconductor design startup Mindgrove Technologies has raised $8 Mn (INR 68.04 Cr) in its Series A funding round co-led by Rocketship.vc and Speciale Invest. 

Other investors that partook in the round were Mela Ventures, Peak XV Partners, Nishchay Goel, Whiteboard Capital and Anshul Goel.

The startup plans to utilise the fresh capital to expand its workforce, enhance its in-house engineering capabilities and accelerate production and sales of its first chip.

Besides, the startup also announced that it received approval under The Government of India’s semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme amounting to INR 15 Cr for building its new chip “Vision SoC”.

“The recent investment and the DLI scheme reaffirms confidence in our thesis and capabilities. The demand in India for high-performance SoCs with essential features for security and edge-computing is growing. We have been actively working towards meeting this need and have made progress in bringing designed-in-India chips to the market,” Mindgrove’s CEO Shashwath TR said. 

Founded in 2021 by Shashwath and Sharan Srinivas Jagathrakshakan, Mindgrove has built microcontroller chips and is looking to tap into the global smart devices market projected to reach $116.4 Bn within the next five years.

Its Secure IoT SoC, a 700 MHz high-performance microcontroller, is designed to offer programmability, flexibility, security, and superior computing power at an estimated 30% lower cost compared to similar chips in the market. 

The chip caters to a diverse range of products, including smart watches, smart locks, CCTVs, power meters, and smart fans, just to name a few. 

The startup raised $2.32 Mn in its seed funding round from Peak XV Partners and Speciale Invest, among others, in May 2023. 

Its new fundraise materialised at a time when investors are turning more bullish on homegrown semiconductor startups. 

Earlier in December, venture capital firm growX ventures floated its second fund with a target corpus of INR 400 Cr specifically focused on startups operating in the semiconductor space. Besides, startups like Netrasemi and C2i Semiconductors recently bagged fresh capital. 

The development comes at a time when India is ramping up efforts to position itself as a semiconductor hub. The government has already approved five semiconductor plants under the India Semiconductor Mission, which are expected to bring in investments worth INR 1.52 Lakh Cr.