Silicon Catalyst

Silicon Catalyst has engaged with more than 1,500 semiconductor startups worldwide and admits companies through a selection process involving its strategic partners, which include TI, ON Semi, Bosch, and GlobalFoundries. Admitted startups enter a 24-month customized incubation program guided by an assigned Silicon Catalyst partner, with curriculum and over 40 global events per year designed to accelerate technical and commercial milestones.

The firm has over 60 in-kind partners, including TSMC, Synopsys, Arm, ST, and MathWorks, which collectively provide each portfolio company with several million dollars' worth of goods and services. This includes EDA tools, IP blocks, process design kits, prototype fabrication, design and test services, packaging, and business solutions — reducing the upfront capital barrier that defines semiconductor development.

Silicon Catalyst operates primarily as an incubator-accelerator hybrid. It launched Silicon Catalyst Ventures in February 2024 as a dedicated early-stage investment vehicle that funds startups accepted into its two-year program and has made 26 investments since inception. The firm also facilitates access to a network of over 500 VCs, angels, corporate VCs, and family offices, and runs Silicon Catalyst Angels for direct ecosystem funding.

The firm has franchised its accelerator model internationally with partners in the UK, EU, Israel, Japan, Australia, and Malaysia. Each of these subsidiaries offers a ChipStart seed-stage incubator that provides non-US semiconductor entrepreneurs direct access to Silicon Valley resources, partners, and investors.

Portfolio companies span ICs, chiplets, materials, IP, and silicon-based photonics, MEMS, sensors, life science tools, and quantum devices. Publicly named portfolio companies include automotive GaN power semiconductor firm VisIC Technologies, optical metasurface AI inference startup Neurophos, and high-density embedded memory developer RAAAM Memory Technologies.