Silicon Catalyst at Global Semiconductor Alliance’s 2024 International Semiconductor Conference in London

Silicon Catalyst sponsored the GSA International Conference held in London on March 13th and 14th. This was the first time an international semiconductor conference was held in the UK for close to a decade.

Having reinvigorated the appetite for semiconductor startups in the UK, our regional Silicon Catalyst events have been regularly attracting over 100 attendees. The ChipStart UK launch in October ’23 hosted 150 attendees. The GSA ambition was to reach an audience of 250. With less than a month to the event, the registration had not exceeded 40. Using our Silicon Catalyst branding with a doppalganger Lord Kitchener, we projected the message that your UK semiconductor industry needs you to get involved in this international debate about the future path of global semiconductors. With this call to action, we successfully accelerated registrations to well above the required target with the final number being 320 tickets.

The compelling content of the conference was kicked off with a GSA Women Leadership Initiative session addressed by their wonderful CEO Jodie Shelton. Our very own Maria Cristina Borelli is actively involved in this brilliant initiative representing Silicon Catalyst in Europe. A powerful keynote address was delivered by Francoise Chombar, founder and Chairwoman of one of Europe’s up and coming semiconductor companies, Melexis.

Silicon Catalyst featured prominently in the two-day agenda, with our Strategic Partner, Arm, launching the joint semiconductor startup competition that we are running together for the second year in a row. The lucky winner will receive $250k of Arm credits plus unique networking opportunities and significant marketing exposure.

Our co-founder and board member, Dan Armbrust chaired a thoughtful and well-informed panel discussion on semiconductor policy interventions from the US Chips Act and comparing and contrasting strategies from the EU Chips Act and UK semiconductor strategy.

The final afternoon of the second day was devoted entirely to semiconductor startups.

Our UK Managing Partner, Sean Redmond introduced the ever-growing Silicon Catalyst ecosystem to lead into a showcase of SiliconCatalyst.UK early stage semiconductor startups from the 9 month UK Government funded ChipStart UK incubator. Each startup projected their value for 5 minutes in fast succession, convincingly and professionally making their case for seed investment.

Below is a list of the promising semiconductor startups who represented the first cohort of ChipStart UK.

  • Blueshift Memory – new memory architecture accelerating compute and reducing energy consumption, overcoming the Von Neumann bottleneck

  • Finchetto – developing the world’s first entirely passive, packet aware, network switch for telecoms, data centres, and high-performance compute users to significantly improve performance and lower energy consumption

  • HIDRA Vision – 100x faster, 100% wafer inspection for compound semiconductor device fabrication

  • HyperCIM – unifying compute and memory with a 100% enterprise software compatible low-power processor in memory

  • Literal Labs – 10,000x lower energy and 1,000x faster inferencing through propositional logic and Tsetlin machines

  • MintNeuro – empowering next-generation neural implants with advanced semiconductor technology

  • RED Semiconductor – reducing power and improving security with Vector Instruction Set Computing

  • SECQAI – securing computation and communication to protect you from the threats of today and tomorrow

  • Singular Photonics – developing next generation high performance SPAD sensors and cameras for scientific, medical and wearable applications

  • Vaire – developing near-zero energy chips with reversible computing

  • Wave Photonics – enabling rapid development for integrated photonic products.

 
 
 

ChipStart UK Launch Event

Former Minister of Technology, Paul Scully and SiliconCatalyst.UK Managing Partner Sean Redmond

ChipStart UK Launch Event

SiliconCatalyst.UK was delighted to announce the VIP launch event for the UK Government funded ChipStart UK semiconductor startup incubator.

This is the first funded policy intervention to be released from the UK Semiconductor Strategy announced in May. ChipStart UK is a new semiconductor startup incubator, managed and delivered by SiliconCatalyst.UK

Highlights of the launch event included: an opening address by Former Minister Paul Scully, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; fifteen 5 minute pitches from some of the most promising UK semiconductor startups; and a fireside chat with Tudor Brown, founding CTO and former President, Arm.

During the fireside chat, Brown said:

“Contrary to what some would have us believe, the UK has a vibrant semiconductor startup community. But it is never easy! In the early days of Arm we were fortunate to have the support of global Silicon Valley companies such as Apple and VLSI Technology to help us scale to a globally successful company” said Tudor Brown, founding CTO and former President or Arm. “I am delighted to see this new ChipStart UK initiative from the UK Government working closely with the semiconductor incubator Silicon Catalyst to support these innovative startup companies and help them to scale to become winners in their fields.”

Along with Brown, Andrew Howard, VP of Partner Success and Licensing at Arm gave a presentation on the powerful and beneficial relationship between Silicon Catalyst and Arm. This was followed by Russell Haggar, Partner at SiliconCatalyst.UK giving insights and advice to raising a seed investment for semiconductor startups. Henry Nurser, also a partner in SiliconCatalyst.UK, delivered a talk on the SiliconCatalyst.UK ChipStart UK training program.

Finally, the event featured recent Silicon Catalyst Alumni Vaysh Kewada, co-founder and CEO of Salience Labs and current Silicon Catalyst Portfolio Company QPT Chairman James Canninings, who both spoke about their time in Silicon Catalyst and how it helped to launch their businesses.

 
 
 

Listen to SiliconCatalyst.UK's Sean Redmond's podcast on ChipStart UK, the semiconductor incubator funded by the UK Government

 

Build your UK Semiconductor Company Here

  • Over 20 semiconductor industry specific training sessions

  • Training guided by a dedicated mentor (Advisor) selected from our pool of experienced semiconductor startup executives

  • Develop a complete business plan and investor pitch deck – based on lessons learned over duration of course

  • Opportunity for pitch practice to industry executives

  • Attend as VIP guests at 5 industry networking events

Do you have the right start-up fit?

  • Either a registered UK company, or moving to create one

  • Corporate and design activity located in the UK

  • Semiconductor focused

  • Solving a difficult problem with a big market opportunity

  • Need access to EDA tools, design IP or semiconductor foundry manufacturing

  • Open to mentoring and learning how to build a great semiconductor company

  • Have raised less than £1M private investment

  • Want to raise pre-seed or seed investment

Enabling a move from Incubation to Acceleration to sustained Scale-up

 

Why ChipStart UK and why now?

 

  • Training developed by global experts in the semiconductor industry – tailored to the UK’s needs

  • Complete supply chain of contribution from In-Kind Partners (no or very low cost)

  • Mentoring by those that have gone before, SiliconCatalyst.UK’s executive advisors

  • Access to UK and international investors curated by SiliconCatalyst.UK

  • Pitch practice at 5 in person events to network with the semiconductor industry

  • UK government funds this program for us to deliver 9 months of semiconductor startup incubation at no cost to the companies accepted

FAQs

WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT ONCE THE APPLICATION IS COMPLETED?

  • Our team will review your application, and one of our team will set up a phone or video call to answer your questions and to have an initial discussion about your company and technology. During this process you will be provided advice as to areas that might need improving to better articulate your proposal. An early application is therefore recommended to allow you to update your application.

  • You will be invited to a one-hour virtual screening session where you will present for 15 minutes then 45 minutes of Q&A with a selection of our Advisors to help our team perform due diligence on your company.

  • If your company is selected based on the due diligence, you will pitch at a Final-Screening event with our Managing Partners and highly technical industry advisors.

  • If your company is selected from the Final-Screening event you will be offered admission to ChipStart UK.

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO ANSWER ALL OF THE QUESTIONS IN THE APPLICATION

  • For the initial screening, your answers are all we have to evaluate your application so it’s in your best interest to make your answers as comprehensive as possible.

  • Even if the information is included in the pitch deck, answering the application questions completely is generally the most effective way to communicate this information to ChipStart UK.

HOW DOES ChipStart UK DECIDE WHICH STARTUPS TO ADMIT

  • SiliconCatalyst.UK and the UK government are looking for high-quality, interesting UK Semiconductor startups that we can help, who have defendable IP that can have a good chance of making a significant impact on the world.

  • In addition to technical and market potential, the key criteria are:

    • The quality of the founding team

    • Their openness to mentoring/coaching

    • What needs they have on Silicon Catalyst’s ecosystem (in-kind tools and services, advisors, investors)

DOES SILICONCATALYST.UK PROVIDE FUNDING?

  • No grant funding is provided as part of incubation, however we will work with cohort members to access pre-seed and grant funding during the programme.

WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF RAISING FUNDING THAT MIGHT TAKE US OVER THE £1M LIMIT DURING THE PROGRAMME. CAN WE STILL APPLY?

  • As long as at the time of joining the programme the company has raised less than £1m in funding limit you will qualify to join. However, you should also review whether your company is more suited to the 24 months Silicon Catalyst Accelerator programme.

  • By being a cohort member it is likely that this will improve your negotiating position on either the valuation or size of future rounds. 

WE ARE STILL VERY EARLY STAGE, SHOULD WE APPLY TO THIS COHORT OR WAIT UNTIL A LATER ONE?

  • The ChipStart UK incubator has been specifically designed for early stage start semiconductor companies. It is these companies that we believe can benefit most from the programme.

  • For later stage companies we would encourage them to apply for the 24 months accelerator programme

ALTHOUGH WE HAVE INITIAL INDICATIONS ON POTENTIAL EARLY REVENUE AND MARKET SIZE WE ARE STILL IN THE PROCESS OF UNDERSTANDING THIS. IS THIS A PROBLEM?

  • We fully understand the difficulty of estimating market size and timing, as long as the methodology used to make your initial estimates is clear this will not be an issue.

  • A key part of the course content is providing you the tools to enable you to forecast revenue in a way that is repeatable and defendable as input into your company strategy – and with potential investors.

IF WE FAIL TO WIN A PLACE ON THIS COHORT CAN WE REAPPLY FOR A LATER ONE?

  • There is no problem in you re-applying. However, please note that early stage companies will remain the priority.

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION/INCUBATION PROCESS FOR ChipStart UK?

1. Sourcing

  • Companies are sourced through the application process on the SiliconCatalyst.UK website

2. Review Application

  • Companies apply to ChipStart UK online

3. Prescreening

  • SiliconCatalyst.UK Ecosystem members review companies

4. Screening

  • A large group of ecosystem members will review applicants for admission to the ChipStart UK incubator

INCUBATION SELECTION PROCESS?

 
 

ChipStart UK INCUBATION PROCESS?

Beginning of Incubation

Develop a customized 9 month incubation plan covering the following:

Advocate and Advisor engagement

Product Market Fit

Operational Planning

Fundraising

Supported by curriculum

During Incubation

Regular interaction with a dedicated SiliconCatalyst.UK advocate and Advisors

Development of comprehensive fundraising deck

Periodic status update to ecosystem

Assist with staffing

APPLICATION TIPS

A well-prepared application and a clear, thorough and concise pitch deck are critical to your success as a company. The tips below will help you provide the information that SiliconCatalyst.UK, as well as our executive advisors, needs to evaluate your company.

  • Problem or opportunity statement - what is the problem or opportunity that your product can uniquely solve?

  • Solution/product to be developed – what is the product you will create that will address the problem or opportunity? What is your value proposition?

  • Use of semiconductors in solution, semiconductor type – will your company design a unique integrated circuit (IC) chip or is your company developing a semiconductor materials innovation that needs to design a unique integrated circuit (IC) chip to demonstrate the value of the materials innovation? What type of IC will you design (e.g. digital, analog/mixed-signal, memory, MEMS, silicon photonics, etc.). What technology node will you use (e.g. 0.18 micron, 65nm, 7nm, etc.)?

Potential market size (initially and ultimate) -what is the size of the market you will directly target, defined by TAM (Total Available Market), SAM (Serviceable Available Market), and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)?