Silicon Catalyst Ventures launched to support Early-stage Semiconductor Startups
Led by a team of seasoned investment and technology experts, in close collaboration with the Silicon Catalyst incubator
8 Investments completed in Silicon Catalyst Portfolio Companies
Silicon Valley, Calif. and Hsinchu, Taiwan, June 24, 2024 – Announcing the launch of Silicon Catalyst Ventures (SCV), a newly formed Delaware Series LLC that is deploying US$10M to US$20M this year for its first series and is focused on investing in early-stage entrepreneurial teams developing transformative semiconductor-based innovations. SCV will fund companies primarily in North America, UK, EU, and Israel. SCV also plans on investing in most early-stage companies admitted into the Silicon Catalyst incubator.
The SCV investment team brings deep industry insight, spanning investment, technologies, and the diverse market segments served by the semiconductor industry. As the world has become aware, semiconductors are vital to all aspects of our lives and businesses.
Silicon Catalyst Ventures has been established to uniquely select and fund the most promising semiconductor startups, covering AI, communications, photonics, MEMS, sensors, IP, materials, and life sciences. The investment team, led by Founding Managing Director Dr. Shih-Wei Sun, former CEO of United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), who joined Silicon Catalyst as an advisor and investor, as well as a member of the Silicon Catalyst Angels Investment group for the past two years, stated:
“Silicon Catalyst Ventures was formed as an extension of Silicon Catalyst, the world’s only incubator + accelerator focused on semiconductor solutions. It has been formed primarily, but not exclusively, to fund and foster Silicon Catalyst Portfolio Companies.,” stated Dr. Sun. “This close association between our fund and the Silicon Catalyst incubator affords investors unique access to startup teams whose technology and businesses are de-risked throughout a thorough and rigorous incubator screening process and then, when accepted, through Silicon Catalyst’s world-class two-year incubation. With our top-ranked semiconductor LPs, we bring additional ecosystem and supply-chain values to our startups. Silicon Catalyst Ventures is looking forward to tapping into the immense financial and societal value of our industry in this Silicon Renaissance era.”
Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner Mayfield
“We partnered with Silicon Catalyst in 2022 and have been excited to watch them nurture entrepreneurs bringing silicon back to Silicon Valley. The venture fund announced today expands the reach of their incubator program with the ability to partner with global transformative semiconductor-based teams. We look forward to continuing our collaboration.”
Pete Rodriguez, Managing Director of Silicon Catalyst Ventures and CEO of Silicon Catalyst
“Over the past nine years, Silicon Catalyst has built an investor ecosystem of over 300 VCs, Angels, Angel groups, CVCs, and Family Offices to fund our startups’ journeys. Silicon Catalyst Ventures is the next step forward, leveraging five years of Silicon Catalyst Angels and its 32% IRR and also powered by precious pro-rata in nearly 100 companies! I am pleased to report that SCV has hit the ground running and has already deployed a couple of million dollars in eight Silicon Catalyst Portfolio companies.”
The initial SCV investments in companies from the Silicon Catalyst Incubator include:
Applied Brain Research
Intelligence for real world applications
Applied Brain Research's innovative hardware and software, deploys cloud-like machine learning capabilities locally to any edge device for application in smart-enabled products.
Eridan
Eridan is a rapidly-growing startup, building 5G radios to enable abundant wireless connectivity everywhere in the world.
EXOKĒRYX
Powering EV research to realize earlier disease detection. EXOKĒRYX is speeding up the fight against cancer and other diseases by putting breakthrough technology in the hands of leading researchers.
Owl Autonomous Imaging
Owl is all about safety, especially pedestrian safety.
Owl is developing HD thermal image sensors and computer vision software, singularly focused on improving visibility in no light, bright light, and degraded visual environments.
Q-Pixel
Overhauling Decades of LED Display Technology
Q-Pixel aims to overcome the obstacle of high fabrication costs and to dramatically streamline the LED display assembly processes.
RAAAM
The Best in Class On-Chip Memory
50% Area Reduction vs. SRAM
10x Power Reduction vs. SRAM
Salience Labs
AI requires new hardware.
Salience Labs is developing an ultra-high throughput, low latency Photonic Tensor Processing Unit.
Zepsor Technologies
Zero-power infrared sensors
Sensible sensors with uninterrupted operation and unprecedented accuracy
Zepsor’s technology does not consume any battery power to monitor the environment in standby mode.
Joining Dr. Sun and Mr. Rodriguez in the leadership team of Silicon Catalyst Ventures:
Laura Swan – General Partner and Portfolio Manager
Laura oversees portfolio company management at SCV. Laura is a Managing Partner with Silicon Catalyst and the Vice President of Operations for Silicon Catalyst Angels.
Kai Chen – General Partner and Fund Manager
Kai oversees fund administration and investor relations at SCV. He is the founder and CEO of OceanIQ Capital, an investment advisory firm that he started in 2013.
Julian Lee – Managing Director
Mr. Lee has 35 years of professional experience in investment banking and the telecom/media industry.
Silicon Catalyst Incubator Application Deadline
The deal flow for Silicon Catalyst Ventures is primarily sourced from companies that are admitted to the Silicon Catalyst Incubator. Early-stage semiconductor companies that are admitted to the Incubator will be eligible to receive an investment from Silicon Catalyst Ventures.
The application deadline for Silicon Catalyst is July 12, 2024; details can be found at https://siliconcatalyst.com/application
Contact Information
Website: www.sicatalystvc.com
If you are a startup and interested in applying for funding, please apply through the Silicon Catalyst Incubator – www.siliconcatalyst.com
If you are interested in becoming a Limited Partner, contact laura@sicatalystvc.com
