Intel Acqui-Hires Hyderabad-based Semiconductor Startup Ineda Systems

Global chip-maker & tech giant, Intel Corporation has acquired Hyderabad-based semiconductor startup, Ineda Systems, for an undisclosed amount., in an all-cash deal sealed in last week, reported Times of India,

As part of the acquisition, which is mainly for the skill-sets of Ineda's workforce rather than its products or services, Intel has acqui-hired around 100 engineers of Ineda for their skills in graphics.

With this acquisition, Intel will get a ready-made experienced SOC (System On a Chip) team to help build a world-class discrete GPU business.

Founded in 2011, by industry veterans from US and India Dasaradha Gude and Balaji Kanigicherla, Ineda was working with an ultimate goal of becoming a leader in developing low power SOC’s (System On a Chip) for the use in both consumer and enterprise applications. 

Team of Ineda systems at Hyderabad
(Image - Ineda@Linkedin.com)

Ineda operates in the sphere of autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT). The company has even managed to raise over $60 Mn from high profile investors, including Cisco, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, Walden-Riverwood Ventures and Imagination Technologies, among others. 

Intel has some ambitious plans in the area of graphics and has been working towards building a stronger team to scale its business and strengthen its current products and solutions. Hence, instead of only focusing on acquiring businesses for their products and services, Intel is adding more people capabilities.

Currently, Intel has a few hundred engineers engaged in software development in Hyderabad. But with acquisition of Ineda and its plan to set up a global technology center in Hyderabad it will be increasing its headcount. The new Hyderabad center may have around 1,500 engineers initially, which may be ramped up to 5,000 people.

While Intel is continuously working on increasing its workforce and building its capabilities, time will tell how they will help in accelerating the business.

In September last year, Intel had acquired NetSpeed Systems, a San Jose, California-based provider of system-on-chip design tools and interconnect fabric intellectual property. NetSpeed was founded by Indian entrepreneurs - Sundari Mitra and Sailesh Kumar.

In the same month, Bengaluru-based chip design (VLSI) services company, SeviTech Systems, got acquired by UST Global, a California, US-based company backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek .

L&T Technology Services Acquires Karnataka VC Fund-backed Startup Graphene Semiconductor

L&T Technology Services Limited, a leading global pure-play engineering services company and subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, has acquired 100% stake in Bangalore-based Graphene Semiconductor Services Private Limited ('Graphene') by way of an all cash deal. The transaction is expected to be consummated by October 2018.

The financials of the acquisition deal was not disclosed.

Founded in April 2013, by Vilas Bhade, Vinay Hebballi, Nandagopal Ananda, and Pramod Sabnis, Graphene provide end-to-end support for the semiconductor industry including chip design, Embedded software design and product testing among others. Notably, it is also the first startup in semiconductor space to receive the backing of a governmental-backed VC fund when it received Rs 4.95 crore from Karnataka Semiconductor Venture Capital Fund. The SEBI-registered VC Fund chose Graphene for its differentiated focus in semiconductor technology and end-to-end product development.

Moreover, Graphene was also in the list of Karnataka's 100 Most Innovative Startups, released in 2017.

Graphene is one of the fastest growing companies in the Semiconductor Services domain with a presence in India, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Counting 10 of the world’s top semiconductor fabrication and fabless companies as its customers, Graphene provides end-to-end solutions— right from chip design, embedded software, all the way through providing support to mass manufacturing, thereby being a one-stop service and solution provider. Graphene was awarded the title of "Best Startup 2016" by Mentor Graphics and Silicon India. Graphene had revenues of INR 663 million for the year ended March 31, 2018.

“Graphene’s strong offshore presence, coupled with expertise in complete VLSI Chip Design & Embedded Software will be a force multiplier for LTTS and will enhance our capabilities in the Semiconductor & Product OEM space,” said Dr Keshab Panda, CEO & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services Limited.

"Aligning with LTTS is the right decision to expand our global reach. We will now continue fulfilling our vision of enabling our customers realize products that attain market leadership positions in their respective markets," said Vilas Bhade, Co-founder Graphene Semiconductor Services Private Limited.

Larsen & Toubro, which had set up an Internet of Things Solutions Centre in Bangalore, in 2015, has L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) as its publicly listed subsidiary offering consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 52 Fortune 500 companies and 51 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 13,000 employees spread across 16 global design centers, 27 global sales offices and 42 innovation labs as of June 30, 2018.

L&T Technology Services Acquires Karnataka VC Fund-backed Startup Graphene Semiconductor

L&T Technology Services Limited, a leading global pure-play engineering services company and subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, has acquired 100% stake in Bangalore-based Graphene Semiconductor Services Private Limited ('Graphene') by way of an all cash deal. The transaction is expected to be consummated by October 2018.

The financials of the acquisition deal was not disclosed.

Founded in April 2013, by Vilas Bhade, Vinay Hebballi, Nandagopal Ananda, and Pramod Sabnis, Graphene provide end-to-end support for the semiconductor industry including chip design, Embedded software design and product testing among others. Notably, it is also the first startup in semiconductor space to receive the backing of a governmental-backed VC fund when it received Rs 4.95 crore from Karnataka Semiconductor Venture Capital Fund. The SEBI-registered VC Fund chose Graphene for its differentiated focus in semiconductor technology and end-to-end product development.

Moreover, Graphene was also in the list of Karnataka's 100 Most Innovative Startups, released in 2017.

Graphene is one of the fastest growing companies in the Semiconductor Services domain with a presence in India, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Counting 10 of the world’s top semiconductor fabrication and fabless companies as its customers, Graphene provides end-to-end solutions— right from chip design, embedded software, all the way through providing support to mass manufacturing, thereby being a one-stop service and solution provider. Graphene was awarded the title of "Best Startup 2016" by Mentor Graphics and Silicon India. Graphene had revenues of INR 663 million for the year ended March 31, 2018.

“Graphene’s strong offshore presence, coupled with expertise in complete VLSI Chip Design & Embedded Software will be a force multiplier for LTTS and will enhance our capabilities in the Semiconductor & Product OEM space,” said Dr Keshab Panda, CEO & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services Limited.

"Aligning with LTTS is the right decision to expand our global reach. We will now continue fulfilling our vision of enabling our customers realize products that attain market leadership positions in their respective markets," said Vilas Bhade, Co-founder Graphene Semiconductor Services Private Limited.

Larsen & Toubro, which had set up an Internet of Things Solutions Centre in Bangalore, in 2015, has L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) as its publicly listed subsidiary offering consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 52 Fortune 500 companies and 51 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 13,000 employees spread across 16 global design centers, 27 global sales offices and 42 innovation labs as of June 30, 2018.

Semiconductor Startups in India to get $100-million fund from Walden International

California headquartered VC firm Walden International is launching a specialised fund of US$100 million (Rs. 612 crores) to invest in semiconductor startups in India and startups which make softwares for semiconductor chips. As per report by ET the  fund will begin investing later this year and has already identified four startups, two each in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The VC firm has not though, the names of chosen startups, but as per IndianWeb2 speculations it has to be iWave or Saankhya Labs as far as semiconductor startups from Bangalore is concerned. Walden will invest around $2 million each in semiconductor startups

Lip Bu Tan, chairman and co-founder of Walden International said - "We are looking for companies which have innovative solutions to offer in the low power consumption space. There are strong laws to protect such IP in India."

Walden International has previously invested in Indian companies like E4E and Quatrro BPO.

Funding for Semiconductor startups in India is not as easy as for other tech startups in India, for couple of years only few companies managed to get fundings. Recently only Tejas Networks and Cosmic Circuits have successfully raised capital. Tejas Networks raised angel funding of $5 million and later received around $ 73 million (. 445 crore) in risk funding from global investors such as Goldman Sachs, Battery Ventures, Sandstone and Intel Capital.

Apart from these only funding for any semiconductor startup was back in 2009 when Bangalore's Ojas Venture Partners has made an investment in city-based Arigami Semiconductor Systems, which is coming up with techniques and intellectual property (IP) to enable digital chip designers to build more efficient datapath intensive digital designs and takes inspiration from Vedic mathematics.

Moreover on a positive side, the central government of India has also announced new initiatives for the semiconductor industry. Last week, the government invited global firms to set up chip fabrication units in the country and said it would reimburse a quarter of the capital expenditure incurred to set up such units.