AI Inference Accelerator IP provider Expedera Inc. announces $18 million Series A funding led by the founders of Marvell Technology Group, Dr. Sehat Sutardia and Weili Dai. Other prominent semiconductor investors too participated in the round. The new influx of the fund brings total amount raised to over $27 million.
Expedera will use the fund to speed product development and expand sales and marketing to meet the demand for its high performance and energy-efficient deep learning accelerator (DLA) IP.
There is a constant increase in adding AI inference capabilities to almost every application, including smartphones, smart speakers, security cameras, PC/tablets, wearables, automotive and edge servers.
“We expect shipments of AI-enabled edge devices to grow from about 600 million units in 2020 to 2 billion units in 2025, representing 26% annual growth,” said Linley Gwennap, Principal Analyst at The Linley Group. “Smartphones, a market where Expedera already has traction, represent about half of these units.”
“This financing underscores the success that Expedera has had so far and will enable us to expand our portfolio and team to meet the market needs,” said Da Chuang, CEO of Expedera. “We are incredibly happy to have Weili Dai and Sehat Sutardja lead this round. As highly respected veterans of the semiconductor industry, they have a unique understanding of the market and customer needs. I look forward to a long partnership.”
“Device makers have typically needed to build their own chips and usually, only the largest companies could afford to do so,” said Gwennap. “Expedera’s IP model provides a more cost-effective way to address the sprawling edge AI market. A single IP supplier can license to any or all of the numerous chip vendors that supply a multitude of device makers in the edge market.”
