Physical-AI chipmaker SiMa.ai has raised $150 million in a Series C round that values the company at about $1.45 billion, as investors deepen their bets on semiconductors built for robots, drones and other machines that operate in the real world.
The round, announced on September 28, was co-led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Amplify, according to TechCrunch. The fundraise takes SiMa.ai's total capital raised to $500 million.
Founded in 2018 by Krishna Rangasayee, a former chief operating officer at Groq, SiMa.ai develops chips and software for what the industry calls "physical AI" — artificial intelligence that runs on edge devices such as humanoid robots, drones, industrial cameras and driver-assistance systems, rather than inside data centres.
Betting on the edge
The fundraise reflects a broader investor shift from large language models running in the cloud toward AI that must perceive and act in the physical world with minimal delay and power consumption. SiMa.ai says its third-generation platform is designed to deliver 1,000 TOPS (trillion operations per second) of AI compute at 80 watts, with availability targeted for the first half of 2028.
The company operates in a crowded field of AI chip startups, but its focus on power-efficient inference at the edge — for applications like autonomous machines and smart cameras — has drawn backing from both venture firms and large asset managers.
The fresh capital will be used to scale production and expand the company's push into robotics and automotive markets, where demand for on-device AI processing is growing as machines take on increasingly autonomous tasks.
Sources: TechCrunch, The Times of India
The round, announced on September 28, was co-led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Amplify, according to TechCrunch. The fundraise takes SiMa.ai's total capital raised to $500 million.
Founded in 2018 by Krishna Rangasayee, a former chief operating officer at Groq, SiMa.ai develops chips and software for what the industry calls "physical AI" — artificial intelligence that runs on edge devices such as humanoid robots, drones, industrial cameras and driver-assistance systems, rather than inside data centres.
Betting on the edge
The fundraise reflects a broader investor shift from large language models running in the cloud toward AI that must perceive and act in the physical world with minimal delay and power consumption. SiMa.ai says its third-generation platform is designed to deliver 1,000 TOPS (trillion operations per second) of AI compute at 80 watts, with availability targeted for the first half of 2028.
The company operates in a crowded field of AI chip startups, but its focus on power-efficient inference at the edge — for applications like autonomous machines and smart cameras — has drawn backing from both venture firms and large asset managers.
The fresh capital will be used to scale production and expand the company's push into robotics and automotive markets, where demand for on-device AI processing is growing as machines take on increasingly autonomous tasks.
Sources: TechCrunch, The Times of India
