BigEndian Secures $3 Million in Seed Funding from Vertex Ventures SEA & India to Drive Growth in India’s Semiconductor Revolution

BigEndian Semiconductors, an emerging fabless-semiconductor design startup, has raised $3Mn in funding led by Vertex Ventures SEA & India, with participation from other strategic investors. This investment will accelerate BigEndian’s trajectory of building world-class semiconductors from India to the world, including its upcoming surveillance system-on-chip (SoC) solution, and further drive the growth of India’s burgeoning semiconductor ecosystem.

India's semiconductor sector, despite being home to 20-25% of the global design talent, has historically lacked a significant presence in the global market. However, recent shifts in the global supply chain and increasingly favourable policies encouraging Indigenous semiconductor design are creating fertile ground for semiconductor innovation in India. BigEndian is poised to capitalise on this opportunity by using the newly secured funding to develop homegrown semiconductor IP in India, unlocking a key milestone. The funds will be used to expand the company’s engineering team, enhance research and development capabilities, and scale operations to meet the growing demand for advanced surveillance technology both in India and globally.

"Our goal is to harness India's immense talent and potential to create a global semiconductor powerhouse," said Sunil Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of BigEndian. "This investment enables us to accelerate our journey of disrupting the value chain with open, secure, and collaborative technology. We are committed to energising the ‘Make in India’ movement’ ensuring that our products are not just assembled but truly designed and manufactured in India and deployed globally. Besides our SoCs, we are also building an advanced, truly Indian ecosystem with upstream and downstream innovations, which would be transformative in the nascent Indian Semiconductors industry "

Commenting on the investment, Ben Mathias, Managing Partner of Vertex Ventures SEA & India said, "Realignment of electronics supply chains has provided a rare opportunity for India to become a global leader in semiconductors. We are excited to be a part of this macro trend, starting with our investment in BigEndian. Their 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."

BigEndian’s leadership team consists of seasoned co-founders Sunil Kumar (CEO), Renuka Prasad (Head of System Engineering), Harpreet Wadhawan (CFO), Dinesh Annayya (Head of Silicon Engineering), Kanagaraju Ponnusamy (Head of Engineering), and Jansen Cheng (Head of Global Business Development). The founding team has decades of experience in semiconductor design and a track record of building multiple SoCs out of India with flawless execution. The founders have deep experience leading teams in top global organisations like ARM, Intel, Broadcom, and Cypress, and in cutting-edge startups like Beceem and Arcus. The team is well-equipped to drive BigEndian's ambitious plans.

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