Maieutic Semiconductor Raises $4.15 Mn in Seed Round to Tackle Chip Design Bottlenecks

Deeptech start-up Maieutic Semiconductor has raised $4.15 million in its seed funding round co-led by Endiya Partners and Exfinity Venture Partners. The Bengaluru-based start-up plans to use the fresh capital in expanding its engineering teams and improve time to market.

Founded in 2025, Maieutic Semiconductor builds an AI-powered co-pilot to automate the early-stage design process for making analog IC chips. Its AI platform is built on a customised AI model, which is trained on the know-how of the semiconductor design process.

Typically, the chip design process takes weeks. Hence, Gireesh Rajendran, Ashish Lachhwani, Rakesh Kumar, and Krishna Sankar launched the start-up to make the process faster.

The founding team brings deep expertise in chip design and the semiconductor industry. Prior to this venture, Rajendran, Lachhwani, and Kumar co-founded Steradian Semiconductors - a fabless firm focused on imaging radar technology - which was acquired by Japan’s Renesas Electronics in 2022.

“Maieutic’s platform addresses a long-standing pain point in the semiconductor sector. Their bold vision and deep technical expertise can help India take a leadership role in analog innovation,” said Chinnu Senthilkumar, Managing Partner at Exfinity.

Maieutic’s funding round comes amid a nationwide push to position India as a global hub for chip manufacturing. Riding this momentum, a wave of startups is emerging to tap into the country’s fast-growing semiconductor market, projected to hit $270 billion by 2032.

India's Semiconductor Market

India’s semiconductor market is projected to grow to $103.4 billion by 2030, powering the $400+ billion electronics market, as per India Semiconductor Market Report By India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA).

The report recommended a few key steps for the sector to accomplish milestones in the coming years. The IESA report lists strategic products that align with India's strengths and global market needs, particularly to support upcoming fabs and OSAT units and tap business potential.

It has suggested the industry to expand the collaboration with the universities to implement skill-building programs for a future-ready semiconductor workforce. 

The report highlighted a target of 25% local value addition by 2025-26 and 40% by 2030 in Electronics manufacturing PLI benefits.

In the meantime when China is trying to weaponise its position in the Semiconductor manufacturing and design market, India can leverage the situation by using the skilled workforce, cost advantage and favourable govt policies.