Top News

Bengaluru-based AGNIT Semiconductors has raised $2.6 Mn (around ₹24 Cr) in an extension of its seed funding round led by Shastra VC, with participation from existing backers 3one4 Capital and Zephyr Peacock.

With the fresh capital, AGNIT plans to scale production to 1 Lakh gallium nitride (GaN) components over the next two years as well as expand into telecom infrastructure and high-efficiency power semiconductor devices.

Cofounder and CEO Hareesh Chandrasekar told Inc42 that the capital would help the startup scale the production volume of three semiconductor chips it is piloting as of now.

Launched in 2019 by a team of industry professionals Chandrasekar, Digbijoy Neelim Nath, Madhusudan Atre, Mayank Shrivastava, Muralidharan Rangarajan, Shankar Kumar Selvaraja, and Srinivasan Raghavan, AGNIT Semiconductors specialises in GaN semiconductor technology. It designs and produces GaN materials (wafers) and electronic components primarily tailored for radio-frequency (RF) applications.

The Bengaluru-based startup previously raised $3.5 Mn in its seed funding round in 2024, with plans to scale up its production and expand commercial operations. Excluding the current round, it has raised $4.87 Mn (around ₹41 Cr) from various investors.

While AGNIT previously planned to shift its focus to consumer-focussed use cases, it has put that on hold. “We were trying to develop some components for EVs as well but we put that on hold and we decided to focus on the strategic sector market mainly because the tailwind seemed to be stronger, there was a lot of customer interest and gallium nitride is more of an export-restricted technology in these sectors,” Chandrasekar said.

The development comes at a time when a recent Bloomberg report said that the Centre is planning to launch a ₹1 Lakh Cr ($10.84 Bn) fund to offer subsidies for chip design projects, manufacturing equipment and semiconductor supply chain development.

To note, the government expects India’s chip manufacturing ecosystem to cater to nearly 70–75% of the country’s domestic semiconductor demand by 2029.

With the government’s active measures, investors are increasingly backing startups that are engaged in the semiconductor sector. In the past two months, startups like C2i, Raana Semiconductors and Sensesemi have raised funding from various investors.

The post AGNIT Semiconductors Nets $2.6 Mn To Foray Into Telecom, Power Electronics appeared first on Inc42 Media.