Semiconductor startup Netrasemi raises Rs 107 crore in series A from Zoho and Unicorn India Ventures

Netrasemi Founders

Semiconductor startup Netrasemi has raised Rs 107 crore in a Series A funding round led by Zoho Corporation and existing investor Unicorn India Ventures, the firm said in a statement on July 24.

The funding has come at a time when India is doubling down on building a self-reliant semiconductor ecosystem, and reflects a growing investor interest in deep-tech startups working on indigenous chip solutions for AI and IoT applications.

Netrasemi plans to utilise the proceeds to accelerate R&D, scale up manufacturing, and rollout four new system-on-chip (SoC) variants into production for sectors like surveillance, industrial robotics and smart infrastructure.

The startup also plans to double its engineering team from 83 to 166 people over the next year.

The latest funding round takes the total capital raised by the company to Rs 125 crore, including Rs 10 crore in a Pre-Series A round and Rs 8.3 crore in earlier seed rounds.

Founded in 2020 by Jyothis Indirabhai, Sreejith Varma, and Deepa Geetha, Netrasemi focuses on developing energy-efficient AI chips that perform complex analytics, including video processing, directly on devices without relying on cloud infrastructure.

"In the new age of AI-based automation and next-generation smart devices, domain-specific optimization is no longer a nice-to-have feature, it's a necessity,” said Jyothis Indirabhai, Co-founder and CEO, Netrasemi.

The company has completed development of two Edge-AI chips, A2000, a high-performance AI video analytics chip, and R1000, a microcontroller chip designed for smart IoT sensors, both of which are currently in the tapeout stage using TSMC’s 12nm technology node.

Over the past year, Netrasemi has initiated development of a CCTV-focused AI camera chip for the Indian market, and has signed MoUs with global partners for early sample access. The startup said it has received interest from several OEMs for platform co-development.

Zoho Corporation, which recently opened an R&D centre in Kottarakara, Kerala, will collaborate with Netrasemi on AI, robotics, and edge processing projects.

The announcement comes at a time when Zoho has shelved its $700 million plan to enter semiconductor manufacturing due to a lack of confidence in the technology and the need for government backing for such a capital-intensive venture.  Zoho's Silectric Semiconductor Manufacturing last year made a handful of hires and a formed a board to oversee chipmaking efforts, the source who gave the reason for the failed plan said.

"Supporting the growth of a strong deep-tech ecosystem in India is a key focus for Zoho," said Shailesh Davey, Co-founder and CEO of Zoho. "Through this investment, we are supporting the development of indigenous IP and innovation."

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures said the global edge AI market is witnessing rapid transformation and increasing demand for specialized chips that can run AI workloads in real time. “We believe Netrasemi has opened up new markets and will be leading the next wave of innovation in the semiconductor industry,” he added.

Backed by financial and infrastructure support from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under its DLI and Chips to Startup programmes, Netrasemi aims to complete production of its SoC families in the next 12–18 months and begin R&D for ultra-high performance chips suited for edge servers and smart NVRs.

“Netrasemi chips enable solution players to develop advanced ML and vision application use cases faster and with ease. We not only make advanced System-on-Chips, but own the IP cores that go inside to make them achieve edge-efficient computing,” Indirabhai added.