AI-driven analog design to accelerate chip innovation
Cambridge, UK, 13 May 2019: Agile Analog, a Cambridge analog IP company, announces it has closed its latest Pre-A funding round with Delin Ventures, firstminute Capital and MMC Ventures for $5M.
Founded in 2017, Agile Analog will use the funding to expand the existing engineering team in Cambridge and deliver analog IP products to a wide range of waiting customers. Agile Analog’s unique AI-driven platform replaces the existing manual design process that has not fundamentally changed in 60 years.
With the explosion of the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, autonomous vehicles, the next generation of telecoms and newer smaller process nodes, the demand for new chip designs has never been greater. Analog circuits are needed on every chip to interface between the real world and the digital world. From sensors to battery connections to data transmission, analog components are the hidden driving force behind our modern digital lives. Analog design, which is slow and manual is often the key bottleneck in chip design. Agile Analog’s innovative solution removes this bottleneck, giving customers exactly the type of component they want, on exactly the right semiconductor process, with industry leading quality. This enables Agile Analog’s customers to accelerate the pace of chip innovation and provide smaller, cheaper, more reliable and lower power solutions.
By removing the restrictive manual process, Agile Analog provides access to flexible and easy to use analog IP, enabling a broad range of customers to incorporate more analog onto their chips and significantly reducing the size and cost of end products. Agile Analog technology enables a move away from simple analog designs compensated by complex digital designs to a more balanced mix of technologies, bringing more reliable, lower power designs to market quicker.
Tim Ramsdale, CEO for Agile Analog said: “I’m delighted with the confidence that our investors have placed in us. This investment will enable us to deliver to our customers faster and make possible a paradigm shift in the $2Bn analog IP market.”
Jonathan Hay, Partner at Delin Ventures, said: “We are impressed with the team’s vision to transform analog design and reinvigorate the use of analog. Analog design is the backwater of the semiconductor industry and we think Agile Analog can change that. The team has the world-leading experience and industry connectivity to deliver on this vision. That was a key part of our decision to follow on with our Seed investment.”
Brent Hoberman, Co-founder at firstminute Capital, said: “The Agile Analog founding team is an exceptional balance between deep tech and commercial experience. Predominantly made up of ex-ARM domain experts and division heads, they are industry veterans with a strong network as well as technical expertise.”
Camilla Mazzolini, Investor at firstminute Capital, said: “Following extensive due diligence from industry experts, it was clear to FMC that the company’s technology and approach have the potential to disrupt and transform the industry from a labor-intensive, manual and costly process to an automatic, cheaper, quicker and more accurate on.”
Mina Samaan, Investment Manager at MMC Ventures, said: “Agile Analog’s technology has the potential to become the industry standard for Analog IP. We’re excited to back Tim, Mike and the rest of the team as they continue to bring innovation to an industry which is ripe for disruption.”
For more information, see www.agileanalog.com
