SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ANAFLASH, an edge AI processor developer based in Silicon Valley, has received new funding led by Stonebridge Ventures, and joined by L&S Venture Capital, Lotte Ventures, and Plug and Play Ventures. The company plans to commercialize its non-volatile AI microcontroller product for battery-powered smart edge devices with this new funding.
“We believe ANAFLASH’s flash-based AI acceleration technology is unique among edge AI processor players, since it can provide energy-efficient and cost-effective AI acceleration solutions targeted for battery-powered edge devices,” said Sangrok Shin, Sr. Investment Manager of Stonebridge Ventures. “Such processor solutions will have a substantial impact on the growing edge AI market.”
According to market research, the global edge AI market is forecast to reach $269.82B in 2032, rapidly growing from $20.45B in 2023. Edge AI can be deployed in numerous devices in automotive, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and utility, consumer goods, IT and telecom, and other sectors for real-time data processing without internet connectivity. ANAFLASH recently has showcased its cost and energy efficient nonvolatile processor solution for battery-powered edge devices held in the Plug and Play’s inaugural semiconductor acceleration program expo.
“We are thrilled to have ANAFLASH as one of the first cohort companies in our semiconductor accelerator program,” said Rouzbeh Borhani, Head of Semiconductors at Plug and Play. “We look forward to collaborating with ANAFLASH and supporting their growth within our global semiconductor ecosystem across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.”
In 2022, ANAFLASH was awarded the opportunity to develop its standard logic compatible embedded flash memory IP in advanced logic process nodes of Samsung Foundry. Since then ANAFLASH has established a wholly owned subsidiary company, SEMIBRAIN, which has received $4 million grant from the government funding agencies in Korea to research and develop core technologies around standard logic compatible embedded flash memory and processing-in-memory technology, collaborating with top research institutes in Korea such as KAIST, Korea University, and ETRI. From this collaboration, ANAFLASH's 2024 arch partner—the IMPACT Lab at KAIST—has prototyped a Compute-in-Flash based AI engine featuring a hybrid-domain sensing technique, which is presented at the IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference held on November 18-21, 2024 in Hiroshima, Japan.
“The support from such esteemed investors and research partners empowers us to accelerate our innovation and expand the reach of our technologies,” said Peter Song, CEO and Co-Founder of ANAFLASH. “We believe a brain-inspired non-volatile processor integrating scalable flash memory technology tightly coupled with a neural network acceleration engine can be a real game changer to bring high fidelity intelligence into battery powered smart edge devices.”
ANAFLASH’s on-going Series-A funding round will be closed toward the end of 2024 upon pending transaction from the undisclosed corporate participant.
About ANAFLASH
ANAFLASH Inc., headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, specializes in processing neural network computations based on neuromorphic, non-volatile edge AI processor technology.
The company develops processors with non-volatile memory integrating low-power AI acceleration engines that significantly reduce data traffic between processors and memory. The National Science Foundation, the independent U.S. federal government agency responsible for funding science and technology with a broader impact and commercial potential, has awarded ANAFLASH the task of developing a logic-compatible non-volatile neural network accelerator.
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