Inference chip maker NeuReality bags $35 million to put AI models into production

NeuReality, an AI hardware startup which specializes in the next generation of AI inferencing platforms, is announcing a $35 million Series A funding round, led by Samsung Ventures, Cardumen Capital, Varana Capital, OurCrowd and XT Hitech. The round brings NeuReality’s total funding to $48 million. Participating funds include SK Hynix, Cleveland Avenue, Korean Investment Partners, StoneBridge, and Glory Ventures.

The new fundraising will support NeuReality’s plans to start deploying its Inference solutions in 2023. NeuReality’s system is built for optimized deployment in data centers and near-edge on-premises locations in need for higher performance, lower latency, and much higher efficiency compared to existing technologies. The company had already reported its close collaboration with leading AI ecosystem partners and customers such as IBM, AMD, and Lenovo.

NeuReality makes AI easier to deploy in terms of usability, cost, scalability, and sustainability. The company uses a new type of Network Addressable Processing Units (NAPU) optimized for deep learning inference use cases such as computer vision, natural language processing, and recommendation engines. The NAPU will bring AI for a broader set of less technical companies. It is also set to allow large-scale users such as Hyperscalers and next-wave datacenter customers to support their growing scale of AI usage. NeuReality’s disruptive system approach includes hardware, software and tools that work together to boost efficiency and simplify the adoption and deployment of AI in a wider range of real-world applications.

The funding will allow NeuReality to bring its first-in-class NAPU, the NR1, to the global market. This next-generation AI chip, which is based on NeuReality’s AI-centric architecture, is pushing the performance and efficiency of AI systems to the next level. It does so by removing existing system bottlenecks to increase the utilization of current deep-learning processors, while lowering the latency of AI operations, and saving in overall system cost and power consumption, which are so critical for an improved total cost of ownership (TCO) of data-centers and on-premises large-scale compute systems, and vital for the business models of many applications. NeuReality also pushes the bar higher on power consumption of those power-hungry applications, a stepping stone for the sustainability requirements driven by governments around the globe.

“This investment is another sign of confidence in the talent and innovation that NeuReality and the Israeli tech industry offer the world,” stated Moshe Tanach, CEO and co-founder of NeuReality. “The high-profile investors in our Series A fundraising prove that NeuReality’s value proposition, architecture and flagship product are a viable reality which will transform the AI market.”

“We are honored to join the NeuReality journey led by this exceptional team, headed by Moshe, Tzvika, Yossi and Lior," added Yoav Sebba, Managing Director at XT Hi-Tech. "High performance and sustainable Inference computing is so critical for growth in day-to-day usage of AI. We are seeing endless AI opportunities developed by software companies, but the existing hardware infrastructure is limiting the deployment of those use cases. Recently new deep learning processors had been developed by multiple companies, serving as new type of “brains”. NeuReality is the full body surrounding those brains and allowing it to serve intelligent voice, language, vision, and recommendation applications”.

“NeuReality is bringing ease of use and scalability into the deployment of AI inference solutions, and we see great synergy between their promising technology Fortune 500 enterprises companies we communicate with," noted Dr. Mingu Lee, Managing Partner at Cleveland Avenue Technology Investments. "We feel that investing in companies such as NeuReality is vital, not only to ensure the future of technology, but also in terms of sustainability.”

NeuReality, which raised its seed round early 2020, is led by a seasoned management team with extensive experience in AI, data-center architecture, system, and software. NeuReality was co-founded by CEO Moshe Tanach, formerly Director of Engineering at Marvell and Intel and AVP R&D at DesignArt-Networks (acquired by Qualcomm); VP Operations Tzvika Shmueli, formerly VP of Backend at Mellanox Technologies and VP of Engineering at Habana Labs; and VP VLSI Yossi Kasus, formerly Senior Director of Engineering at Mellanox and the head of VLSI at EZChip. The company's leading team also includes CTO Lior Khermosh, former co-founder and Chief Scientist of ParallelM and a fellow at PMC Sierra.