Bharat Semi, an Indian semiconductor startup, has raised $24 million in seed funding to develop AI-enabled image sensors, as it seeks to win customers in the United States and elsewhere.
The investment comes as the nearly five-year-old, pre-revenue startup says it has secured design wins with U.S. defense technology company General Atomics and India’s Kaynes Semicon. Its image sensors, however, remain under development, with the startup targeting its initial commercial production in 2027.
India has committed billions of dollars to build up a domestic semiconductor industry, with a hope to become an alternative manufacturing hub as U.S. companies look to diversify supply chains beyond China. The country, however, has yet to establish itself as a major chip manufacturing hub. Meanwhile, the AI boom is also giving Indian startups such as Bharat Semi an opportunity to develop specialized chips for global markets.
The New Delhi-based startup is developing programmable image sensors that combine image capture, processing, and AI capabilities on a single chip, reducing the need to send visual data to separate processors. The move could cut system costs by at least 70% compared with conventional setups that use a separate image sensor, image signal processor, and a system-on-chip, co-founder Vrinda Kapoor (pictured above, right) said in an interview.
