By Max A. Cherney
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Software startup Vinci said on Tuesday it raised $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation and is seeking to expand its suite of software used to simulate elements of chip and other hardware design.
The Palo Alto, California-based company is entering a market that includes similar AI-based simulation products from established chip design software firms such as Cadence and Synopsys.
Vinci’s software is capable of high-fidelity physics simulation that is useful for chip and hardware designers — AI chips generate enormous amounts of heat — as the systems get larger and more complex. The company began by focusing on thermal simulation for chips but is looking to expand to help simulate whole systems.
“If you ask anybody, what they are interested in — they want higher and higher fidelity physics simulation,” Vinci CEO Hardik Kabaria said in an interview.
The 70-person startup plans to use the proceeds from the funding round to pay for its computing costs, hire more staff and continue expanding its range of simulation products. Eventually Vinci plans to expand to other types of physics simulation like vibration testing and electromagnetics.
“It is a foundation model that is proven to work in the field, so now it’s about scaling up the operations and that means not just two pilot deployments but 20,” Kabaria said, referring to the foundation AI model the company built to assist with the simulations.
Advent, Temasek and Xora Innovation led the funding round. Venture firms Eclipse, Khosla Ventures and Madrona also participated, the company said.
(Reporting by Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
