Semiconductor Startup BigEndian Raises $3 Mn from Vertex Ventures

BigEndian Semiconductors, a fabless semiconductor startup, has raised $3 million (about INR 25.2 crore) in a seed fundraising round headed by Vertex Ventures SEA & India, with participation from other strategic investors.

The money will be used to expedite BigEndian’s journey from India to the global semiconductor market, including its future surveillance system-on-chip (SoC) solution, according to the startup.

Related: Bhavish Aggarwal At Ola Event Reveals Krutrim AI Will Launch First AI Chip By 2026

According to Ben Mathias, managing partner at Vertex Ventures SEA & India, the realignment of electronics supply chains has created a unique opportunity for India to become a worldwide semiconductor leader.

“Their (BigEndian’s) approach to developing a surveillance SoC aligns perfectly with the growing demand for advanced security solutions globally and the founding team has all the elements that point to BigEndian becoming a future leader in the global semiconductor industry,” Mathias stated.

BigEndian, founded in early 2024 by Sunil Kumar, Renuka Prasad, Harpreet Wadhawan, Dinesh Annayya, Kanagaraju Ponnusamy, and Jansen Cheng, develops semiconductor solutions for the surveillance sector. Its initial SoC is being developed for surveillance cameras in both enterprise and consumer applications.

Kumar, cofounder and CEO of BigEndian, informed the media that the business is working with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) in India to ensure that its chipsets are actually manufactured as a ‘Make in India’ product for the global market.

“To ensure that our business model is successful, we are hoping to engage with specific electronics manufacturing services (EMS) partners, design partners, and software system integrators that can provide an end-to-end solution for application verticals of surveillance cameras – be it traffic, railways, defence, and other specific use cases within retail and non-retail,” Kumar told me.

BigEndian’s founding team, based in Bengaluru, has decades of semiconductor design experience and has built many SoCs in India. The founders claim to have led teams at top worldwide semiconductor businesses such as ARM, Intel, and Broadcom.

The development comes at a time when several Indian firms, including Netrasemi, Sensesemi, and Cientra, are attempting to establish themselves in the global semiconductor arena with their SoCs.

According to Inc42’s estimate, the Indian semiconductor market is predicted to grow to $150 billion by 2030, up from $33 billion in 2023, while the global market opportunity is expected to be worth $1 trillion by that time.