Dutch AI Semiconductor Startup Axelera AI Launches With $12 Million Seed Round
15.9.2021 16:10:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
AI semiconductor startup Axelera AI announced today that it has successfully closed a seed investment round of $12 million.
The round was led by emerging technologies leader Bitfury and joined by global nanoelectronics R&D center imec and deep-tech venture capital funds Innovation Industries and imec.xpand. The funding will support the company’s development of an industry-defining product powering AI applications at the edge.
Axelera AI was incubated by Bitfury Group in 2019, formerly operating as Bitfury AI until the company came out as an independent entity this year. Building on its extensive research and development focused on integrating world-class hardware and software technologies for edge and cloud-to-edge enterprise solutions, Axelera AI joined forces with imec in early 2020 to develop groundbreaking computing architecture for high-performance AI. Headquartered in the AI Innovation Center of the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, Axelera AI also has R&D offices in Leuven (BE) and Zurich (CH). The company has already recruited an elite team of more than 20 senior engineers and developers from world-leading AI companies and research centers, including Intel, Qualcomm, IBM, and imec.
“With our launch as a new independent company and the closing of this investment, Axelera AI is now claiming its place as a significant player in the global AI sector,” said Fabrizio del Maffeo, CEO and co-founder of Axelera AI. “Our extraordinary team merges complementary expertise in software development, image processing, dataflow architecture, in-memory computing, algorithms and quantization with a proven track record of business success. We look forward to building on our extensive R&D and introducing new solutions across the globe over the next few years.”
Axelera AI is designing the world’s most efficient and advanced solutions for AI at the edge. Its game-changing hardware and software product will concentrate the AI computational power of an entire server into a single chip at a fraction of the power consumption and price of AI hardware today. The company’s groundbreaking solution will empower thousands of applications of AI at the edge, making the use of AI more efficient and accessible than ever before. Axelera AI’s products will be fully integrated with the leading open-sourced AI frameworks when it launches to select customers and partners in early 2022.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210915005028/en/
Contact information
Felipe Augusto Chies
press@axelera.ai
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
iQmetrix to Deliver 2026 Telecom Industry Address and Product Announcements, Unveiling the Next Wave of Intelligent Commerce14.9.2026 20:40:00 EEST | Press release
iQmetrix, the global provider of Intelligent Commerce Operating Systems for telecom, today opened registration for the 2026 Telecom Industry Address and Product Announcements, taking place Wednesday, October 28, 2026. For the first time in the event's history, iQmetrix will run two dedicated virtual sessions: one built specifically for European audiences, alongside its long-running North American event. Both are free to attend. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260914992633/en/ Now in its seventh year, the Industry Address has become the telecom channel's annual checkpoint: an unfiltered read on where the market is heading, delivered by a company that sits at the intersection of telcos, retailers, and the partners who serve them. The 2026 edition draws on a year of research and direct conversations across international markets. "We spend the year listening — to telcos, to retailers, to the partners building alon
The Estée Lauder Companies Announces Partnership with Profound to Expand AI Visibility Across Its Global Brand Portfolio14.9.2026 19:32:00 EEST | Press release
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) today announced a global strategic partnership with Profound, the category-defining AI marketing platform, advancing its ambition to be prestige beauty’s leader in AI-native discovery. The partnership will provide the company with visibility into how its full portfolio of brands is represented across leading generative AI platforms, as well as opportunities to optimize that representation. This partnership establishes the company as the first in prestige beauty to deploy Profound’s capabilities globally across the company’s full portfolio and operationalize Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and AI marketing at scale. As consumers increasingly turn to ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI assistants to discover products, compare recommendations, and seek personalized beauty advice before a purchase, The Estée Lauder Companies is partnering with Profound to define the next era of beauty discovery. This partnership will equip the company with a unifie
AMAALA Yacht Club Opens, Putting the Red Sea on the Global Yachting Map14.9.2026 19:00:00 EEST | Press release
Red Sea Global (RSG), the regenerative tourism developer, has announced that AMAALA Yacht Club has officially begun operations, marking a major milestone in establishing the Saudi Red Sea as a new global destination for luxury yachting, sailing and marine tourism. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260914160771/en/ AMAALA Yacht Club, the new luxury yachting destination on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. Nestled within AMAALA Marina Village, the AMAALA Yacht Club is now welcoming founding members and visiting yachts to moor and explore the destination. Located approximately 2,000 nautical miles from Monaco, the club provides a new winter destination for the world’s luxury sailing community, which traditionally migrates from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean or Indian Ocean from October. Positioned closer to the Mediterranean than the Caribbean, AMAALA offers an attractive winter cruising hub and a strategic gateway
Behind the Stage Lights: How Students Learned to Trust Their Voices with Doha Debates14.9.2026 16:40:00 EEST | Press release
During high school years in Model United Nations, Dahlia Al-Ansari learned to argue on behalf of a country she was assigned to represent. But when Doha Debates invited her to join a town hall debate in Toronto this July, she faced an unfamiliar challenge: sharing her own beliefs about a timely issue. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260914150232/en/ Students from Qatar, Canada and Mexico during their visit to the University of Toronto as part of the Doha Debates Town Hall experience in Canada. (Photo: AETOSWire) An 18-year-old biological sciences student at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Al-Ansari hadn’t traveled to defend a predetermined position. Instead, she discovered that she was there to think critically, express her own viewpoint and remain open to diverse perspectives. This shift required her to navigate uncharted waters, but “I’m happy that it did,” she says. “It’s showing me the importance of sp
Matt Shafer Joins Golub Capital as Head of Golub Equity Continuation Partners14.9.2026 16:30:00 EEST | Press release
Golub Capital (“the Firm”) today announced the appointment of Matt Shafer as Managing Director and Head of the Firm’s GP-led private equity secondaries strategy, Golub Equity Continuation Partners (“GECP”). In this role, he will be responsible for leading the continued growth and development of the strategy and helping expand the Firm’s equity investment capabilities. Matt will work closely with Greg Cashman, Vice Chair and Co-Head of Golub Capital’s Sponsor Finance practice, to expand Golub Capital’s activity in this growing market. Shafer brings nearly three decades of global experience as an investor, financier and advisor working with private equity firms. He was most recently Head of Capital Solutions and U.S. Private Equity at Northleaf Capital Partners. In this role, Shafer helped lead the firm’s private equity investment activities, including secondaries, co‑investments and structured capital. Prior to Northleaf, he was Partner and Head of Americas Private Equity at Vision Capi
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom