SoftBank Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, led a $40m series B round for US-based artificial intelligence microchip developer Mythic on Tuesday.
Lockheed Martin Ventures, the strategic investment arm of aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin, also participated in the round, as did venture capital firms DFJ, Lux Capital, Data Collective and AME Cloud Ventures, and angel investor Andy Bechtolsheim.
Mythic has built an artificial intelligence and core compute-in-memory technology-equipped platform that can combine hardware and software to convert any electronic device into a smart assistant.
The company’s chips use analogue currents and flash memory to perform computation inside memory cells, replicating AI on a large scale at relatively low cost and power use. It was incubated at the University of Michigan’s Michigan Integrated Circuits Lab in 2012.
Michael Henry, Mythic’s co-founder and CEO, added: “We are excited to have SoftBank join as an investor. They are committed to building the future vision of AI, robotics, autonomous and machines that can see and interact with the world.
“We fill a missing piece in their vision: incredibly powerful compute at the edge that is cost-efficient and low power enough to run on batteries.”
Rene Haas, president of the IP product group at SoftBank’s chipmaker subsidiary Arm, has joined Mythic’s board of directors in conjunction with the round. The capital will be used to grow Mythic’s engineering team as it prepares to supply test products with a view to a commercial release in 2019.
DFJ had previously led Mythic’s $9m series A round, closed as it emerged from stealth in March 2017. The round also featured Lux Capital, Data Collective and AME Cloud Ventures.