Global Hands-On VC Invests in EdgeCortix, Japan-based Edge AI Fabless Semiconductor Company

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Oct 04, 2023, 10:01 ET

Global Hands-On VC starts its mission to provide hands-on support to help startups go global.

TOKYO, Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Hands-On VC ("GHOVC") has co-led a $20 million financing round in EdgeCortix, a Japan-based edge artificial intelligence (AI) fabless semiconductor development and design company. The investment was made from its first fund, GHOVC Fund I Investment Limited Partnership ("GHOVC Fund I") managed by GHOVC. Funds managed by SBI Investment Corporation (co-lead investor) and Renesas Electronics Corporation also participated in this round. GHOVC will provide not only financial support, it will also provide management support to help accelerate EdgCortix's growth as it expands its business within Japan and globally.

EdgeCortix was founded by Dr. Sakyasingha Dasgupta on the groundbreaking idea of creating a high-speed yet very low-power, flexible edge AI-focused processor with a radical software-first approach. Today, the company's suite of proprietary software and AI chip products accelerate AI inference tasks for computer vision, natural language processing and generative AI applications, at very low power, low latency and best-in-class energy-efficiency, across the complex world of systems operating outside of typical data centers, colloquially called "the edge".

Shri Dodani, Founder & Managing Partner of GHOVC, will join EdgeCortix's Board of Directors and provide hands-on support to help the company expand sales of its products and services into global markets. Shri is a serial entrepreneur who has started and led six successful technology companies in Silicon Valley.

"We are delighted to welcome both the GHOVC investment as well as their experienced team to the EdgeCortix family, we are also very pleased to have industry veteran Shri Dodani join the Board of Directors of EdgeCortix.", said Sakyasingha Dasgupta, CEO and Founder of EdgeCortix, "We anticipate that given GHOVC's deep collective history in the semiconductor space that they are well positioned to deliver significant value to EdgeCortix as we look to expand our sales, marketing and operational efforts on a global scale."

"I am very pleased that GHOVC Fund I has decided to make its first investment in EdgeCortix. We have seen the boom and excitement in AI technology a few times, and each previous time, it has ended mainly at the laboratory level or as an experiment that was far from being put to practical use. With the release of Chat GPT last year, AI has now quickly been recognized as a technology that has immediate potential for solving practical, current business problems across numerous industries." said Shri Dodani, Founder and Managing Partner of GHOVC. "This new generation of AI is still in its infancy, there is significant opportunity for innovation in terms of energy efficiency, cost effectiveness, and ease of use at each end point. Accelerator Processing Units that implement ELMs (Efficient Language Models™)^[1], i.e., low-power and low-cost AI processors that can support the latest frameworks in AI will shortly be required to perform outside the datacenter where the information is created and captured - at the 'edge. EdgeCortix has the intellectual property, technology, team and know-how to bring innovative developments in this area and deliver value to businesses looking to leverage AI. I look forward to contributing to EdgeCortix's corporate development through my own experience in the semiconductor industry and GHOVC's hands-on support capabilities."

^[1] Efficient Language Model is a registered trademark of EdgeCortix and its group companies.

About EdgeCortix:

Pioneering the future of the connected intelligent edge, EdgeCortix was founded in 2019 as a fabless semiconductor company focused on energy-efficient AI processing. In September of the same year, it established its R&D headquarters in Tokyo. Taking a software-first approach, EdgeCortix patented its "hardware and software co-exploration," system, using it to design an artificial intelligence specific runtime reconfigurable processor from the ground up. Shipping its software and hardware products to customers globally, the company is geared towards positively disrupting the rapidly growing edge AI hardware space across defense, aerospace, smart cities, industry 4.0, autonomous vehicles and robotics.

For more information visit: www.edgecortix.com

About Global Hands-On VC:

GHOVC is a VC founded by two Japanese and three Americans to provide hands-on support for "Japanese technology startups" to go global. GHOVC's team is comprised of people who have experience starting and managing startups overseas, people who have helped startups expand overseas, and people who have developed global standard products. GHOVC provide hands-on support for the overseas expansion of Japanese technology startups by working closely with the entrepreneurs.

For more information visit: www.ghovc.com

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2023.07.19 Japan x Silicon Valley Investment Specialists Combine All Their Efforts to Create Unicorn Companies in Japan

https://forbesjapan.com/articles/detail/64468

List of Global Hands-On VC Inc. press releases https://prtimes.jp/main/html/searchrlp/company_id/112281

For inquiries from the press regarding this matter, please contact Global Hands-On VC, Inc.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +81 50-1742-5386

SOURCE Global Hands-On VC