SynSense raises USD 10 million to accelerate mass production of smart vision sensor

The leading commercial supplier of ultra-low-power sensory processing hardware and application solutions announced the completion of a pre-Series B+ funding round. The Zurich-based company is a Venture Kick and Venture Leaders alum.

Building on long experience in neuromorphic computing and engineering, SynSense (formerly aiCTX) has been at the forefront of neuromorphic research since its founding in 2017. Since expanding in China in 2020, SynSense has deepened its involvement in the industry and driven the integration of this new technology with real-world edge computing scenarios, creating opportunities for the commercialization of neuromorphic intelligence.

SynSense's neuromorphic technology is inspired by information perception and processing in biological brains and offers a considerable advantage for applications at the edge by significantly reducing dependence on cloud computing, and by improving computing efficiency at the device level.

The company now completed a pre-Series B+ funding round, raising USD 10 million. The round was led by Ausvic Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate the mass production of Speck™, SynSense’s smart vision sensor with an integrated neuromorphic AI processor that delivers real-time vision processing at milliwatt power consumption.

The capital will also support the development of edge computing applications in a range of markets, such as smart homes, intelligent security, precision farming, autonomous driving, and drones.

"Accelerating the commercialization of neuromorphic technology has always been our key mission," said Ning Qiao, founder and CEO of SynSense. "We are eager to work with our partners to achieve revolutionary breakthroughs in edge computing technology and to expand the boundaries of ultra-low-power AI applications at the edge."

Since last year, SynSense has established partnerships with leading companies, including BMW, CETHIK, top animal husbandry enterprises in China, and European tech companies and innovation institutions. SynSense's Speck™ chip has already entered mass production. The Xylo™ product family of ultra-low-power devices for low-dimensional signal processing brings the flexibility of NN-based audio and bio-signal processing to microwatt energy budgets. It will enter mass production in the second half of this year, with Xylo™-Audio.

SynSense was awarded CHF 10,000 by Venture Kick in 2016. In 2019, the startup was chosen to participate in the Venture Leaders Mobile program.