DEEPX is a South Korean AI chip-in-device (NPU or neural processing unit) startup that makes hardware and software for various AI applications in electronic devices. The company announced this week that it has raised $80 million (KRW 108.5 billion) in a Series C round at a valuation of $529 million (KRW 723 billion), which is more than eight times its Series funding. B, about 15 million dollars. in 2021.
The Series C funding, which brings its total raised to around $95 million, will go towards mass production of the startup’s inaugural products (DX-V1, DX-V3, DX-M1 and DX-H1 ) at the end of 2024 for global distribution. The startup will also use the new capital to accelerate the development and launch of its next generation of solutions on large language model (LLM) devices.
DEEP was founded in 2018 by CEO Lokwon Kim, who previously worked at Apple, Cisco Systems, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and Broadcom.
The market size of global edge AI, also called on-device AI, is It is expected to reach $107.47 billion in 2029., up from $11.98 billion in 2021, according to a recent report. “The on-device AI market, excluding edge servers, requires AI capabilities to be deployed, bypassing servers or the cloud,” Kim told TechCrunch. “He [on-device AI market] “It is expanding due to computer vision capabilities such as facial and voice recognition, smart mobility, robotics, the Internet of Things and physical security systems.”
Kim said that if its mass production starts this year, potential customers such as end-product manufacturers will be able to market their products with DEEPX’s AI chips in 2025.
DEEPX, which has around 65 employees, is not the only company that has developed AI chip solutions. The Korean team competes with Hellowhich raised a $120 million funding round last month; SiMa.ai, which closed with $70 million, also in April; and Axeleraa Belgium-based AI chip startup that raised $27 million in 2022.
Kim said his company’s differentiators include cost efficiency, energy consumption efficiency and total all-in-4 AI solution, a comprehensive solution for various AI applications. Its All-in-4 AI solutions include: DX-V1 and DX-V3, designed for vision systems in home appliances, surveillance camera systems, robot vision and drones; as well as DX-M1 and DX-H1, which are designed for AI computing boxes, AI servers, smart factories and AI booster chips. DEEPX now has more than 259 patents pending in the United States, China and South Korea, Kim said.
“Nvidia’s GPGPU-based solutions are the most cost-effective for large language model services like ChatGPT; “The total power consumed by operating GPUs has reached levels that exceed the electrical power of an entire country,” Kim said. “This collaborative operation technology between server-scale AI and large on-device AI models is expected to greatly reduce power consumption and costs compared to relying solely on data centers.”
The startup has no customers yet, but is collaborating with more than 100 potential customers and strategic partners, such as Hyundai Kia Motors Robotics Lab and Korean IT company POSCO DX, to test the capabilities of DEEPX’s AI chip.
SkyLake Equity Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm based in South Korea, led the latest investment, with participation from BNW Investments, a Korean private equity firm founded by the former president of Samsung LED and the memory chips from Samsung Electronics. AJU IB and previous sponsor Timefolio Asset Management also participated in this round.