Business Wire

Dutch AI Semiconductor Startup Axelera AI Launches With $12 Million Seed Round

15.9.2021 16:10:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share

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.

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

MEX Exchange, part of MultiBank Group, Strengthens Global Operations and Technology Leadership with Three Senior Promotions2.9.2026 13:38:00 EEST | Press release

MEX Exchange, the institutional electronic trading platform of MultiBank Group, has announced three senior promotions as it strengthens its operational and technology leadership to support the continued development and international growth of its institutional trading business. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260902298207/en/ Jeremy Pearce has been promoted to COO – Middle East, Africa & Asia, Beth White to COO – Americas & Europe, and James Longo to Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Jeremy Pearce has been promoted to COO – Middle East, Africa & Asia, Beth White to COO – Americas & Europe, and James Longo to Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The appointments establish dedicated operational leadership across MEX Exchange’s key international markets, supported by experienced technology leadership as the company continues to develop its global electronic trading infrastructure. Pearce brings 20 years of experience ru

Compass Pathways Recognized as a 2026 Fierce 50 Breakthrough Honoree2.9.2026 13:30:00 EEST | Press release

Compass Pathways, a biotechnology company dedicated to unlocking urgently needed new treatment options in mental health care, has been named a 2026 Fierce 50 Breakthrough honoree by Fierce Pharma, Fierce Biotech and Fierce Healthcare. The Fierce 50 recognizes 50 individuals and organizations driving advancements in medicine, fostering innovation and shaping the future of biopharma and healthcare. Compass is leading a profound shift in the development of new treatment options in mental health care – moving beyond daily or frequent administration toward an option that could potentially provide durable efficacy with just a few treatments a year that could be life changing for patients. Supported by robust clinical data from three late-stage trials involving more than 1,000 participants living with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), COMP360 psilocybin, if approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), has the potential to establish a new standard of care for a condition affectin

Exeon Analytics expands management team for next growth phase2.9.2026 11:00:00 EEST | Press release

Exeon Analytics is expanding its management team with two new roles. Wayne Jennings takes on the newly created position of Chief Solutions Officer, and Johan Roman becomes Chief Revenue Officer. The appointments fall in the company’s anniversary year, ten years after its founding as an ETH Zurich spin-off, and create the structure for the next growth phase. Exeon Analytics delivers holistic security analytics for organizations facing growing blind spots, encrypted traffic and regulatory pressure. Wayne Jennings joined Exeon Analytics in July 2024 and initially led Support and Engineering. As Chief Solutions Officer, he is responsible for the technical customer lifecycle, from pre-sales and proof of concept through implementation to long-term technical account management, and for the technical enablement of partners. Before joining Exeon Analytics, he was a Senior Manager in Cybersecurity & Privacy at PwC Switzerland, focusing on threat intelligence and incident response. Johan Roman br

euroAtlantic Airways Expands Long-Haul Fleet With a New Airbus A330-300 Aircraft2.9.2026 10:00:00 EEST | Press release

euroAtlantic Airways (“EAA”), a Njord Partners portfolio company and a leading Portuguese aircraft wet-leasing and charter business, is pleased to announce the induction of a new Airbus A330-300 aircraft into its fleet, further strengthening its long-haul widebody capabilities and reinforcing the Company's growth trajectory in the ACMI and charter markets. The Airbus A330-300 is leased from Jackson Square Aviation (JSA). Only 15 years old, the aircraft is configured in a three-class layout of Business, Premium Economy and Economy, accommodating a total of 290 passengers, and features full lie-flat seating in Business Class along with personal in-seat entertainment monitors fitted across the entire cabin. The aircraft, which will be registered as CS-TGI after completing its normal process of approval with authorities, has already completed its delivery journey, departing Kuala Lumpur (KUL) and arriving into Beja, Portugal (BYJ) on 17 August 2026. This aircraft type is known for its effi

Interoperability and Trust Key to AI Commerce: Alipay+ and S&P Global Report2.9.2026 09:33:00 EEST | Press release

A new report by Alipay+, the unified wallet gateway of Ant International, in partnership with S&P Global, reveals a growing "commerce digitalisation gap", with people increasingly expecting seamless mobile payments and intelligent digital assistance, yet friction – from inconsistent payment acceptance to trust in AI – still define their experience. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260901394299/en/ The study, which surveyed 6,000 consumers across nine markets in Asia, Europe and the US on their cross-border spending habits, points to a major shift underway in global commerce — one where e-wallets, AI and interoperable digital ecosystems are becoming foundational to how consumers discover, transact and engage across borders. Key findings: Travel exposes gaps in global commerce infrastructure: More than half of consumers cite uncertainty around merchant acceptance (53%) or lack of access to preferred payment metho

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
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye