Fabless semiconductor design startup Mindgrove raises $8 million in a Series A round

Mindgrove Technologies, a Chennai-based fabless semiconductor design startup, has raised Rs 64 crore (approximately $8 million) in a Series A funding round.

The round was co-led by Rocketship.vc and Speciale Invest, with participation from Mela Ventures and existing investors Peak XV Partners, Nishchay Goel, Whiteboard Capital, and Anshul Goel.

The startup previously raised $2.35 million in seed funding in early 2023 from Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA), Speciale Invest, and Whiteboard Capital.

What does Mindgrove do?

Founded in 2022 by Sharan Jagathrakshakan and T.R. Shashwath, Mindgrove is incubated by IITM Pravartak Technologies Foundation and IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

The startup focuses on designing state-of-the-art, scalable, and reliable SoCs under the brand name Mindgrove Silicon, catering to both Indian and global markets.

“We are working with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) so that they can use SoCs with Indian support, including data sheets and user manuals that they can understand. This reduces the time to market and the cost of development,” Shashwath T R, CEO of Mindgrove Technologies.

It is expanding its team across all departments, including business, engineering, product, and applications, to support its growth and innovation goals.

Expansion and development plans

Mindgrove plans to use the raised capital to expand its workforce, enhance its in-house engineering capabilities, and accelerate the production and sales of its first chip.

“The recent investment and the DLI scheme reaffirms confidence in our thesis and capabilities,” said Shashwath T R.

He added, “The demand in India for high-performance SoCs with essential features for security and edge-computing is growing. We have been actively working towards meeting this need and have made progress in bringing designed-in-India chips to the market.”

Innovative chip launches

In May 2024, Mindgrove launched ‘Secure IoT,’ India’s first commercial-grade high-performance microcontroller System-on-Chip (SoC) taped out at 28nm.

This chip is designed for smart connected devices such as watches, meters, locks, and access control units, as well as for devices like printers and point of sale (PoS) machines. The Secure IoT chip is expected to reach the market by mid-2025.

Additionally, Mindgrove has received approval under the Government of India’s Semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme for Rs 15 crore to develop a new chip, “Vision SoC.”

This chip targets high-performance edge computing and vision processing applications, including CCTV cameras, dashcams, video recorders, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and smart TVs.

Government Support and Industry Impact

The approval from the DLI scheme highlights the government’s support for indigenous semiconductor development.

“Their successfully taped-out Secure IoT SoC exemplifies innovation and cost-efficiency, addressing both domestic and global demand for high-performance microcontrollers,” said Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest.

Sailesh Ramakrishnan, managing partner at Rocketship.vc, said, “Mindgrove Technologies represents the future of India’s technology sector, with its innovative solutions tailored for the needs of a rising India.”