BigEndian Raises $6 Mn To Commercialise First SoC

Fabless semiconductor startup BigEndian Semiconductors has raised $6 Mn (around ₹57.1 Cr) in its pre-Series A funding round led by IAN Alpha Fund. The round also saw participation from Vertex Ventures SEA & India, IvyCap Ventures, and a host of undisclosed angel investors.

The startup said it will keep the round open and may raise an additional $4 Mn if needed. 

BigEndian plans to deploy the fresh capital to commercialise its first system-on-chip (SoC) for surveillance equipment. The startup will also use part of the fresh capital to scale product engineering, strengthen partnerships across foundries, and develop form factors. 

For context, an SoC is an integrated circuit that has all essential computer components — processor, graphics unit, memory, connectivity, among others. It takes lower space, provides better power efficiency and faster performance.

Cofounder and CEO Sunil Kumar told Inc42 that the startup’s sample chipset will be unveiled by the end of this month. Following that, it will seek regulatory approvals for testing the SoC in different conditions.

BigEndian expects its SoC to be commercially available in the market from the third or fourth quarter of the ongoing fiscal year. The startup will focus on the Indian market for the first year after the SoC is ready. It plans to foray into the African, Southeast Asian, and LATAM markets later. 

Founded in 2024 by Kumar, Renuka Prasad, Kanagaraju Ponnusamy, Dinesh Annayya, Harpreet Wadhawan, and Jansen Cheng, BigEndian builds custom integrated circuits and SoC for applications across surveillance systems. Going ahead, the startup plans to expand its offerings to build chipset for enterprise, consumer electronics, and automobiles. 

Prior to this round, BigEndian raised $3 Mn in seed funding in August 2024 from Vertex Ventures.

The development comes at a time when the government is promoting the semiconductor sector in the country. In the Union Budget 2026-27, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the launch of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 (ISM 2.0) to further strengthen the industry. 

Recently, the Centre also mandated that all surveillance equipment will have to comply with the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification regime. The move is said to be aimed at promoting domestic companies producing CCTV and chipsets over Chinese players.

As a result of the Centre’s moves, semiconductor startups are also seeing a lot of traction from investors. Last week, Morphing Machines raised about ₹42 Cr (about $4.4 Mn) to accelerate development and testing of its first production chip.

Similarly, fabless semiconductor startup Vervesemi recently raised $10 Mn in its Series A funding round to  accelerate commercialisation of its ML-enhanced analog signal chain IC portfolio and production of existing silicon chips.

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