India-linked deep-tech startup optoML has raised $1.8 million in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Bluehill.VC and a99, a boost that comes as global demand for AI-optimised hardware intensifies. The capital will accelerate product development of optoML’s next-generation chip architecture and expand its engineering team.
Technology and product progress
opt oML, founded by Saravana Maruthamuthu, is a fabless semiconductor company developing analog-in-memory compute architectures combined with optical interconnects. This hybrid approach aims to reduce energy consumption and latency relative to conventional digital accelerators—critical attributes for large-scale AI workloads.
The company reports that its system-on-chip (SoC) design can achieve up to 50-times higher energy efficiency for certain tasks, a claim that, if validated in system-level testing, could materially lower power and cooling requirements in data centres and edge deployments.
Tape-out milestone
A key technical milestone for optoML is the successful completion of a 12-nanometre tape-out with TSMC. In semiconductor development, tape-out signifies the finalised chip layout sent for fabrication and marks transition from design research to practical implementation. With tape-out complete, optoML is moving into testing, validation and preparations for commercial deployment.
Use of funds and partnerships
The fresh funds will be deployed to scale the engineering team and accelerate subsequent chip generations. Investors cited confidence in optoML’s ability to address persistent AI infrastructure bottlenecks—energy efficiency, latency and bandwidth—through its analog-in-memory and optical interconnect stack.
opt oML, while headquartered in Singapore, maintains strong development ties to Bengaluru, reflecting India’s growing role in global semiconductor design. For backend services, the company has partnered with Kaynes Semiconductor for assembly and testing once wafers are returned from foundries, linking international fabrication with India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem.
Context: India’s semiconductor ambitions and investor interest
The funding round highlights rising investor interest in semiconductor and AI hardware startups with Indian roots or operations. It arrives as the Indian government promotes domestic chip design and manufacturing under incentive schemes aimed at reducing import dependence and building local capabilities.
Although $1.8 million is modest for a capital-intensive sector, the round provides early-stage validation of optoML’s technical roadmap and investor confidence in its team. The company’s next steps—system-level validation, performance benchmarking and commercial partnerships—will be closely watched by industry observers and potential customers.
The path ahead
With strategic investor backing and a validated tape-out, optoML will focus on advancing product development, strengthening industry collaborations and progressing toward commercialisation of its energy-efficient AI chips. As AI adoption expands across healthcare, automotive, fintech and enterprise software, demand for specialised, power-efficient compute hardware is expected to rise—creating opportunities for startups that can deliver demonstrable gains in performance and efficiency.
