Thalia, a UK-based company whose software platform enables semiconductor businesses to develop new products using existing chip designs, has raised £2.1m to drive the next phase of its growth.
The funding round was led by Mercia Ventures, which has backed the company since 2014, with continued support from Deepbridge Capital and private investor Guillaume d’Eyssautier.
The investment will enable Thalia to broaden the scope of its operations, further develop its cutting-edge AMALIA software suite and strengthen its board with the appointment of a number of industry experts. The company also plans to expand its engineering team, with the creation of around 20 new jobs in total in the next 12 months.
Thalia’s AMALIA platform, which incorporates AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning), enables semiconductor businesses to re-use their existing intellectual property (IP) for new technologies and applications. They can quickly diversify and monetise their existing portfolio of designs, while allowing in-house engineers to focus on new product development.
Based in Cwmbran in Wales, and with an office in Chippenham, Thalia was founded in 2011 by Sowmyan Rajagopalan. The initial round of funding from Mercia and the Development Bank of Wales enabled it to develop the first software module. The company achieved its first sale in 2015 and has since completed over 50 projects for clients.
Thalia, which now employs a team of 26, sells to clients worldwide and has increased revenue by over 300% in the past two years. It has recently embarked on a sales drive in Europe, Israel, and China. The latest funding brings the total raised by the company to date to over £5.3m.
Sowmyan Rajagopalan, CEO of Thalia, said: “With the increasing demand from semiconductor businesses for ‘second-sourcing’ to unlock new markets and address evolving requirements, Thalia stands as the ideal strategic partner. Our AMALIA platform provides a proven solution that enables them to, for example, quickly and efficiently migrate existing designs into the sub-20 nanometre range to align with industry demand for better performance and power consumption.”
Mercia was investing from its EIS funds. Ashwin Kumaraswarmy from Mercia Ventures added: “Semiconductor chip design is a manual and painstaking process and skilled engineering teams are rare. Thalia’s platform automates the whole process, enabling companies to diversify their product ranges quickly and cost effectively to meet evolving demand and reach new markets. It offers a comprehensive solution that no other platform can match. The funding will help the company to gain further commercial traction and establish itself as a leader in the industry.”