industry news
Subscribe Now

Silicon Catalyst Welcomes 6 Newly Admitted Companies to Semiconductor Industry Incubator

Silicon Valley, CA., February 7, 2022 – Silicon Catalyst, the world’s only incubator focused exclusively on accelerating semiconductor solutions, announces the admission of six companies into the semiconductor industry’s highly acclaimed incubation program.
The newly admitted companies include:
  • ApLife Biotech – Argentina “Becoming World Leaders in Discovery for Biosensors”
  • Lemurian Labs – Canada “Building a next-gen AI Accelerator to enable deep learning on the edge”
  • NanoHydro Chem – USA “Energy Storage Solutions”
  • RAAAM – Israel “Providing the highest-density embedded memory in any standard CMOS technology”
  • Siloxit – Singapore “Zero-touch security that works”
  • Synthara.AI – Switzerland “Delivering server-class, rapidly-customizable AI accelerators for the next-generation of edge inference applications”
The mission of Silicon Catalyst is to help semiconductor startups succeed. The ecosystem that Silicon Catalyst has created lowers the capital expenses associated with the design and fabrication of silicon-based IC’s, Sensors, and MEMS devices by providing tools and services from a comprehensive network of In-Kind Partners (IKPs). The Portfolio Companies in the incubator utilize IKP tools and services including design tools, simulation software, design services, foundry PDK access and MPW runs, test program development, tester access, and banking and legal services. The world-class Silicon Catalyst network of advisors and investors further facilitates their journey from idea through prototype toward volume production.
“This is a very exciting time to be in the semiconductor industry on a world-wide basis, especially as demonstrated by the innovative products being developed by these newly admitted companies to our incubator. We look forward to providing the support and expertise to enable their success in the market,” stated Pete Rodriguez, Silicon Catalyst CEO.
Aplife Biotech
Pablo Baron – CEO
“Becoming World Leaders in Discovery for Biosensors”
Aplife Biotech manufactures synthetic DNA-derived molecules and large combinatorial libraries in predefined locations for mass-screening of important biological molecules. Utilizing CMOS technology, we can unleash the full potential of digital diagnostic assays and transform molecular interactions into measurable signals. We offer APTIVEX, our high-throughput technology for the discovery of novel biosensing molecules for electrochemical devices.
Lemurian Labs
Jay Dawani  – CEO
“Building a next-gen AI Accelerator to enable deep learning on the edge”
At Lemurian, our goal is to make deep learning affordable and available for everyone, from the individual researcher to industry. The Lemurian SPU (Spatial Processing Unit) is more than an order of magnitude more efficient in terms of memory and power in comparison with legacy processors, whilst also being faster in inference. Our processor makes use of a novel digital arithmetic which has been designed specifically in order to speed up matrix-vector multiplications which largely make up modern deep neural networks, whilst also reducing hardware complexity. Our arithmetic and processor architecture results in tremendous power and memory savings, thereby making our processor more affordable and well suited to inference at the edge.
NanoHydroChem
Parham Rohani, PhD – CEO
NanoHydroChem is an advanced materials company developing and commercializing nanomaterials for energy storage applications. The company is focused on silicon-dominant anode materials and Cobalt-free cathode materials leading to energy densities higher than 350 Wh/kg. The battery materials are highly scalable and drop-in, which accelerates the commercialization and adoption in the electric vehicle and other high-demand markets.
RAAAM
Robert Giterman – CEO
RAAAM offers the highest-density embedded memory in any standard CMOS process, requiring no additional process steps or cost. Our technology provides up-to 50% smaller memory footprint compared to the highest-density commercial solutions based on 6T SRAM. The RAAAM memory IP, offering a significant cost reduction, improved bandwidth, and reduced power consumption. Our patented technology has already been proven in silicon with multiple test-chips of leading semiconductor foundries (e.g.TSMC, Samsung, ST Micro) in a broad range of process nodes.
Siloxit
Harry Peterson – CEO
“Zero-touch security that works”
Siloxit was founded in 2020, focused on delivering IoT devices and systems for secure high-value, high-volume infrastructure applications. The company is developing the TingVet electrical grid-monitoring system and will deliver field-test units in the first half of 2022. These systems, which are powered by application-specific harvesters capturing ambient energy, are the first systems to offer no-touch configuration that includes both initialization and communication. These systems offer novel hardware support and communication protocols that implement unassailable security that does not require trusting third parties.
Synthara.ai
Manu V Nair, PhD – CEO
Synthara offers highly scalable and rapidly customizable energy-efficient AI accelerators for the extreme edge applications such hearing aids, wearables, bio-medical monitoring, AR/VR and others. Our goal is to enable the next generation of edge devices that are an order of magnitude smarter than they are today. Our Adaptiva product is a neural network accelerator that delivers between 10 to 100 TOp/s/W of energy efficiency. We seek to enable the next generations of smart edge devices.
About Silicon Catalyst
It’s About What’s Next® – Silicon Catalyst is the world’s only incubator focused exclusively on accelerating solutions in silicon (including IP, MEMS & sensors), building a coalition of in-kind and strategic partners to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of development. More than 600 startup companies worldwide have engaged with Silicon Catalyst and we have admitted 46 exciting companies. Silicon Power Technology, our Chengdu Joint Venture, has admitted 35 additional startups in China. With a world-class network of mentors to advise startups, Silicon Catalyst is helping new semiconductor companies address the challenges in moving from idea to realization. The incubator/accelerator supplies startups with a path to design tools, silicon devices, networking, access to funding, banking and marketing acumen to successfully launch and grow their companies’ novel technology solutions. Silicon Catalyst has been named the Semiconductor Review’s 2021 Top-10 Solutions Company award winner.
The Silicon Catalyst Angels was established in July 2019 as a separate organization to provide access to seed and Series A funding for Silicon Catalyst portfolio companies.
More information is available at www.siliconcatalyst.com and www.siliconcatalystangels.com

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Dec 6, 2023
Optimizing a silicon chip at the system level is crucial in achieving peak performance, efficiency, and system reliability. As Moore's Law faces diminishing returns, simply transitioning to the latest process node no longer guarantees substantial power, performance, or c...
Dec 6, 2023
Explore standards development and functional safety requirements with Jyotika Athavale, IEEE senior member and Senior Director of Silicon Lifecycle Management.The post Q&A With Jyotika Athavale, IEEE Champion, on Advancing Standards Development Worldwide appeared first ...
Nov 6, 2023
Suffice it to say that everyone and everything in these images was shot in-camera underwater, and that the results truly are haunting....

featured video

Dramatically Improve PPA and Productivity with Generative AI

Sponsored by Cadence Design Systems

Discover how you can quickly optimize flows for many blocks concurrently and use that knowledge for your next design. The Cadence Cerebrus Intelligent Chip Explorer is a revolutionary, AI-driven, automated approach to chip design flow optimization. Block engineers specify the design goals, and generative AI features within Cadence Cerebrus Explorer will intelligently optimize the design to meet the power, performance, and area (PPA) goals in a completely automated way.

Click here for more information

featured paper

3D-IC Design Challenges and Requirements

Sponsored by Cadence Design Systems

While there is great interest in 3D-IC technology, it is still in its early phases. Standard definitions are lacking, the supply chain ecosystem is in flux, and design, analysis, verification, and test challenges need to be resolved. Read this paper to learn about design challenges, ecosystem requirements, and needed solutions. While various types of multi-die packages have been available for many years, this paper focuses on 3D integration and packaging of multiple stacked dies.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

Neutrik powerCON®: Twist and Latch Locking AC Power Connectors
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Neutrik
If your next design demands frequent connector mating and unmating and use in countries throughout the world, a twist and latch locking AC power connector would be a great addition to your system design. In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Fred Morgenstern from Neutrik explore the benefits of Neutrik's powerCON® AC power connectors, the electrical and environmental specifications included in this connector family, and why these connectors are a great fit for a variety of AV and industrial applications. 
Nov 27, 2023
1,190 views