Kerala-based semiconductor startup Netrasemi has raised ₹107 crore (approximately $12.5 million) in its Series A funding round, co-led by Zoho Corporation and Unicorn India Ventures. This strategic investment underscores growing investor interest in India’s deep-tech and semiconductor innovation ecosystem.
Prior to this, the company had secured ₹10 crore in a pre-Series A round and ₹8.3 crore across earlier seed rounds—both led by Unicorn India Ventures.
Founded in 2020 by Jyothis Indirabhai, Sreejith Varma, and Deepa Geetha, Netrasemi is developing system-on-chips (SoCs) aimed at powering intelligent computing in smart IoT devices. Its SoCs are tailored for complex edge workloads such as AI-based video analytics, eliminating the reliance on cloud infrastructure by enabling on-device computation.
“Our chips are designed to carry out high-performance AI inference at the edge with energy efficiency,” said the founders in a press statement. The key innovation lies in Netrasemi’s in-house deep neural network processing unit (NPU) and a robust portfolio of homegrown silicon IPs.
Over the past year, Netrasemi has:
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Completed development of two Edge-AI chips with advanced video capabilities
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Initiated work on a CCTV AI camera chip designed for the Indian market
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Signed multiple MoUs with global partners for sample release and R&D collaborations
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Partnered with ecosystem players for evaluation boards and platform co-development
The company also announced that two of its SoCs are currently in the tapeout stage using TSMC’s 12nm technology node, a significant milestone in semiconductor manufacturing. Over the next 12–18 months, Netrasemi plans to move all three SoC families into full mask production and begin R&D on next-gen SoCs for edge-server and smart NVR (network video recorder) compute platforms.
The fresh capital will be used to accelerate R&D, scale manufacturing, enhance marketing, and meet the compute needs of OEMs in the edge AI and IoT domains.
This funding round marks a critical step for India’s ambitions to build a semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem—and highlights the role of private capital in nurturing hardware-led innovation from the ground up.
