ET Capital has initiated a new program to boost venture capital investment in Cambridge startups. The program focuses on science and technology-driven startups within the Cambridge cluster, aiming to provide a diverse portfolio across multiple sectors and technologies. The first fund, Cambridge Venture Index SEIS/EIS Fund 1, will invest in ten to fifteen startups from April 2025 to March 2026. This fund targets individual investors and is designed to democratize investment in Cambridge's future success. The strategy aims to reduce risk by diversifying investments, leveraging the performance of the best businesses in the Cambridge cluster. The fund also plans to collaborate with incubators and commercialization offices to provide predictable seed capital to startups.
Recent #startups news in the semiconductor industry
➀ Silicon Catalyst, the world's only incubator dedicated to accelerating semiconductor solutions, has announced the 3rd Annual ‘Arm Silicon Startups Contest’;
➁ The contest is in partnership with Arm, known for its high-performance and energy-efficient computing platforms;
➂ Silicon Catalyst will organize and administer the contest, which is set to launch today.
Several startups, including Factorial Energy, QuantumScape, and SES AI, are advancing to the sample delivery and pilot runs for semi-solid or quasi-solid-state batteries. These first-generation products are expected to enter mass production next year. Despite technical barriers, semi-solid or quasi-solid-state batteries, with a small amount of liquid electrolyte, are seen as interim options for U.S. and European automakers.
17 U.S. and European solid-state battery companies have raised over $4.2 billion in funding. Supported by programs like the US Department of Energy and the EU’s Horizon Europe initiative, some companies are already conducting vehicle integration tests with automakers.
US and European manufacturers are focusing on polymer-based or oxide-based solid electrolytes as their core technologies.
➀ A group of former Intel engineers and executives have raised $21.5 million in seed funding for their RISC-V startup, AheadComputing.
➁ The company, based in Portland, Oregon, is using RISC-V to tackle the processing demands of AI.
➂ Investors include notable figures such as Jim Keller, CEO of RISC-V developer Tenstorrent, and Eclipse Ventures.
➀ PositronAI, a two-year-old startup based in Reno, has raised $23.5 million to develop FPGA-based AI inference chips.
➁ The company, which specializes in transformer model inference, has backing from Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, Flume Ventures, and Resilience Reserve.
➂ Positron's Atlas V1 device utilizes eight Agilix 7M series FPGAs and boasts performance improvements over Nvidia chips.
➀ Two Chinese startups, known as the 'Chinese versions of NVIDIA' and 'AMD', are striving for IPOs.
➁ Both companies have raised over 5 billion yuan in funding, with top-tier investors like Sequoia China, Tencent, and Deep Venture Capital involved.
➂ White Road Capital, founded in 2015, has invested in over 100 projects, with a focus on semiconductor and smart manufacturing.
