US-based custom semiconductor provider SiFive raised $65.4m in series D funding from investors including wearable biometric device producer Huami and Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm.
Spinout-focused investment firm Osage University Partners (OUP), private equity firm Sutter Hill Ventures and venture capital firms Chengwei Capital and Spark Capital also took part in the round.
SiFive produces purpose-built semiconductors based on designs created by its clients, using a cloud-based platform. The chips utilise Risc-V, an open-source and free-to-use type of instruction set architecture – the mechanism which outputs computer processing instructions.
The cash will drive technology development and support continued business growth. SiFive now employs more than 400 employees across 15 international locations, having increased headcount tenfold over the course of 18 months.
The company, a spinout of University of California, Berkeley, has now accrued more than $125m in funding since it was founded in 2015, it said in a statement.
SiFive closed a $50.6m series C round in April 2018 that included Huami, computer storage vendor Western Digital, Intel Capital, which invests on behalf of semiconductor technology provider Intel, and SK Telecom, a telecommunications subsidiary of conglomerate SK Group
Spark Capital, OUP and Sutter Hill Ventures co-led the series C round, having also supplied $8.5m in series B funding the year before. Sutter Hill was described as an existing investor, and SiFive had previously received $5.1m in equity funding according to a securities filing.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing. Image courtesy of SiFive, Inc.