THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
SiLC Technologies raises $12M seed funding for the expansion of its R&D and operations in the FMCW silicon photonic 4D+ Vision Chip Platform
FREMONT, CA: SiLC Technologies (SiLC), a renowned developer of integrated single-chip FMCW LiDAR solutions, raises $12 million in seed round of financing. The funding round was led by Dell Technologies Capital. Some other prominent angel investors such as Decent Capital, ITIC Ventures, and several others also participated in the financing round. SiLC plans to use the newly raised capital to scale up its R&D and operations to innovate further its frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) silicon photonic 4D+ Vision Chip platform.
"Integrating all essential functions necessary to build an FMCW chip on a cost-effective silicon platform represents the holy grail of LiDAR," said Daniel Docter, Managing Director, Dell Technologies Capital. "SiLC's team has over twenty years of experience and a proven track record commercializing silicon photonics solutions. After looking at more than 30 different LiDAR companies, we found SiLC to be the only company that has a viable approach for large-scale adoption of LiDAR in automotive and industrial robotics."
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
Check Out: Top Semiconductor Packaging Solution Companies
The announcement was followed by a successful demonstration where SiLC demonstrated the industry's first fully-integrated FMCW chip and an unprecedented long-range LiDAR resolution. The setup utilized its second-generation FMCW silicon photonics 4D+ Vision Chip to generate scans. SiLC could detect objects that were smaller than one and a half inches at a wide range of 200 meters, translating it into a sufficient resolution of around 0.01 degrees in both horizontal and vertical planes. This level of performance capacities can allow a vehicle traveling in a highway speed to stop or avoid objects at more than a distance of 200 meters range, a critical criterion for autonomous vehicle navigation and safety.
"This is my third startup and by far the most exciting, both at a technology level and the size of the markets it addresses. We believe we have an opportunity to transform several industries," said Mehdi Asghari, founder and CEO, SiLC. "Our 4D+ Vision Chip technology will not only make LiDAR a commercial reality but will also enable applications ranging from robotics to AR/VR to biometric scanning."
SiLC's advanced production-ready 4D+ Vision Chip breaks record with its performance metrics in most LiDARs, which offers a smaller footprint. The parameters such as range, resolution, and accuracy are enhanced while adding critical vector measurements such as velocity, light polarization, and reflectivity.
"SiLC enables a dramatic advancement to 4D imaging and associated LiDAR technology while enabling a much-needed cost volume scaling that follows the dynamics of the semiconductor industry," said Liqing Zeng chairman of Decent Capital and co-founder of Tencent Holdings Ltd., one of China's most valuable corporations. "We see incredible growth potential for SiLC, especially considering the experience and track record of the team."
See Also: Top Robotics Solution Companies in APAC
More in News