Physical AI chip developer SiMa.ai hits $1.45B valuation

techcrunch.com Sep 28, 2026

Physical AI chip developer SiMa.ai hits $1.45B valuation

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Sep 28, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

SiMa.ai, a physical‑AI chip developer, secured $150 million in a Series C round, pushing its valuation to $1.45 billion. The funding was co‑led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Amplify, with Dell Technologies Capital, StepStone Group, Alter Venture Partners, and others participating. Founded in 2018 by former Groq COO Krishna Rangasayee, the company produces energy‑efficient chips that enable on‑device AI for robots, drones, and cameras, bypassing cloud dependence. The new capital brings total funding above $500 million, following a $960 million valuation after a July 2025 Series B.

💡 Why It Matters

· The investment signals growing confidence in edge AI, positioning SiMa.ai to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in low‑latency, cost‑effective AI hardware for emerging robotic markets.

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HIFI Raises $37M To Build Stablecoin And Tokenized Market Infrastructure

HIFI Bridge secured $37 million in a Series A round led by Left Lane Capital, aiming to broaden its stablecoin payment, card, and tokenized securities infrastructure. The company currently processes over $7 billion in annualized volume across 87 countries, linking traditional bank rails with on‑chain settlements. The funding will support expansion into stablecoin‑backed card products and infrastructure for tokenized capital‑market transactions, following recent collaborations with DTCC, Visa, and major financial institutions. The round underscores HIFI’s role as a bridge between conventional finance and emerging tokenized assets.

💡 By scaling its stablecoin‑enabled payment network, HIFI positions itself to streamline the cash leg of tokenized trades, a critical bottleneck in modern securities settlement. This could accelerate broader adoption of tokenized assets in mainstream markets.

techcrunch.com · Sep 26

Ahead of US IPO, British AI neocloud Nscale secures $3.36B in convertible…

British neocloud Nscale secured $3.36 billion in convertible financing ahead of its planned NYSE IPO. The round, led by hedge fund Third Point, provides $2.36 billion immediately and an additional $1 billion from Nvidia, due in mid‑November. The notes will convert to equity once the IPO closes. Nscale, spun out of Australian miner Arkon Energy, has filed for a $35 billion valuation and aims to raise $3 billion. It is building AI data‑center campuses in Norway and West Virginia and has over $103 billion in contracts.

💡 The deal demonstrates the scale of capital required to support AI infrastructure, positioning Nscale as a major player in the emerging neocloud market.

prnewswire.com · Sep 26

Overlord Labs Closes Oversubscribed Seed Financing, Bringing Total Funding to $10 Million…

Overlord Labs announced the close of a $4.35 million Series Seed extension, bringing its total financing to $10 million including prior seed and non‑dilutive capital. The round was led by Band of Angels and included Foothill Ventures, Unlock Pacific Ventures, NuFund Venture Group, Sand Hill Angels and Castle Fund, alongside returning angel investors. The funding supports the company’s shift from tape‑out to product validation for its GENESIS™ Battery Intelligence IC, which integrates proprietary Silicon × Algorithm Architecture to deliver adaptive power‑management for edge AI devices. With silicon now operational, Overlord Labs is advancing validation, preparing customer sampling, and targeting volume production in early 2027 for applications such as smart glasses, wearables and hearables.

💡 By embedding intelligence directly in battery management silicon, Overlord Labs enables edge devices to meet rising compute demands without sacrificing battery life or form‑factor, a capability that traditional fixed‑function ICs cannot provide.

dharmakshethra.com · Sep 25

DRDO Backs Indigenous 20 mK Dilution Refrigerator in First High-Value Deep-Tech TDF…

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has signed its first high‑value Technology Development Fund (TDF) agreement with Zero mK India Private Limited to develop a 20 millikelvin dilution refrigerator, a cryogenic system essential for superconducting quantum computers and other ultra‑low‑temperature quantum devices. The ₹500‑crore‑funded deep‑tech project marks the inaugural high‑value contract under the TDF’s dedicated corpus and aims to create indigenous capability for equipment that has traditionally been imported. The refrigerator will enable laboratories, universities, defence labs and startups to test and characterise quantum processors, sensors and advanced circuits at temperatures near absolute zero. The initiative supports the National Quantum Mission and seeks to build expertise in cryogenic engineering, vacuum and precision instrumentation for future defence and civilian quantum applications globally.

💡 Domestic production of this critical cryogenic tool removes a supply bottleneck, letting India fast‑track quantum research and defence capabilities without foreign dependence.

quantumcomputingreport.com · Sep 25

Mesa Quantum Raises $11.8M to Scale Chip-Scale Quantum Sensors and Alternative PNT…

Mesa Quantum, a Boulder‑based startup, secured $11.8 million in funding to expand its chip‑scale atomic clock (CSAC) and quantum inertial sensor platform. The sensors use miniature atomic vapor cells to achieve picosecond‑level time synchronization and precise positioning without relying on GPS, addressing vulnerabilities in Alternative Position, Navigation, and Timing (ALT‑PNT) systems. The company will grow operations in New Mexico and partners with Sandia National Laboratories and the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies to develop domestic VCSEL and PIC manufacturing pipelines for field‑deployable hardware.

💡 The investment accelerates domestic production of quantum‑based navigation tools, reducing reliance on satellite signals and enhancing resilience for defense and commercial applications.

quantumcomputingreport.com · Sep 25

Azulene Labs Raises $3.4 Million Pre-Seed Round to Build Physics-Grounded AI Foundation…

Azulene Labs, a Berkeley‑based startup founded by Harvard chemical‑physics PhD Nicolas Sawaya, announced a $3.4 million pre‑seed round led by Ground State Ventures. The company is developing physics‑grounded AI foundation models that are trained directly on quantum‑mechanical data to overcome the large errors of conventional computational biochemistry and the physically implausible outputs of unconstrained generative AI. By embedding fundamental physical laws into its machine‑learning architecture, Azulene claims its platform achieves roughly one‑hundred‑fold greater computational efficiency than existing simulation tools and cuts training‑data generation costs by more than two hundred times. The technology is aimed at global high‑value sectors such as biopharma, agriculture, energy storage, industrial solvents and biodegradable plastics, with a team drawn from Caltech, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Columbia and MIPT today.

💡 Marrying quantum physics with AI could compress drug‑discovery cycles enough to tackle proteins once considered undruggable.