Axelera AI lands $27M to launch first AI acceleration platform

Eindhoven-based Axelera AI has announced the close of its 27-million-dollar series-A investment round. The funding will support the launch and mass production of the European startup’s first-generation artificial-intelligence acceleration platform, powered by its in-memory and dataflow technologies. The money is also earmarked for further team expansion. The company will shortly announce its first product, set to launch to select customers and partners in early 2023, and begin raising for its series B later this year.

The series-A round was led by Innovation Industries and joined by Imec.xpand and the Federal Holding and Investment Company of Belgium (SFPIM). In addition, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) awarded Axelera AI a 6.7-million-dollar Innovation Credit, a special loan reserved for highly innovative and impactful projects, commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Innovation Industries and Imec.xpand previously participated in the company’s $12M seed round.

Jonathan Ballon, former vice president and general manager of Intel’s Edge AI and IoT business, has come onboard as Axelera’s chairman. He joins the non-executive board, alongside Cyril Vančura, partner at Imec.xpand, Sander Verbrugge, partner at Innovation Industries, and Valery Vavilov, founder and CVO at Bitfury Group. Marc Ceurremans from the SFPIM will serve as board observer.