Silicon Catalyst
Accelerating Semiconductor Startup Success

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Silicon Catalyst is the world’s only incubator focused on semiconductor solutions, including MEMS, sensors, and intellectual property. The company accelerates startups from idea through prototype and onto a path to volume production. To date, Silicon Catalyst has evaluated over 600 startups worldwide and has admitted 40 exciting companies. In addition to that, Silicon Power Technology, the company’s Chengdu Joint Venture, has admitted 28 additional startups in China. The company offers a highly-acclaimed 24-month incubation program to Portfolio Companies admitted to the incubator, powered by a robust ecosystem of advisors, in-kind partners (IKPs), investor networks, and strategic partners to startups. “Our incubation program doesn’t follow a cookie-cutter mold. The program is customized for each startup based on their respective needs,” states Pete Rodriguez, CEO, Silicon Catalyst.

Silicon Catalyst has a comprehensive incubation process where it selects the best companies amongst numerous applicants and assigns them an advocate from its wide range of partners. Also, for companies that are yet to pick up steam in the competitive market, Silicon Catalyst joins their board as an observer and helps them navigate the development process.

In addition, it commits several hours per startup every week and often makes personal investments in them through its angel investors group, Silicon Catalyst Angels.

Silicon Catalyst has over 40 IKPs, including TSMC, Synopsys, Arm, ST Micro, and others, which provide startups with millions of dollars’ worth of EDA tools, PDKs, IP, design and test services, prototypes, and more. Strategic partners like Arm, Bosch, TI, to name a few, participate in the selection process and partner with the startups whenever opportunities arise. What’s more, the incubator has nurtured relationships with universities, government agencies, industry organizations, and other incubators to benefit its portfolio companies.

Silicon Catalyst has also built a comprehensive network of over 200 seasoned Silicon Valley veterans to advise startup companies. Spanning the entire spectrum of business, from technology and manufacturing to business development and finance, the advisors offer their expertise to the Portfolio Companies and help them build their team’s competency and customer retention. That’s not all! The company involves best-in-breed curriculums to accelerate the success of young ventures. “We focus on companies that hold a strong value proposition. Our company enables those teams who need help in establishing themselves in the market. With the help of our IKPs, they can rapidly develop prototypes at a fraction of the traditional cost. Our unique model de-risks the semiconductor startup equation for investors.” adds Rodriguez.

The broad curriculum and industry-specific approach of Silicon Catalyst have given it numerous successful alumni stories. For instance, one of its graduates is the industry-leading semiconductor startup, Spark Microsystems, whom Silicon Catalyst helped to push forward its venture of ultra-low power, ultra-low latency wireless communications. Another bright alumnus is Aeponyx. Silicon Catalyst enabled them to secure grants and funds from government bodies, and today, Aeponyx is on the verge of shipping volume production photonics solutions to the market.

The triumphant alumni stories that Silicon Catalyst has garnered over the years inspire it to plan the expansion of its incubation ecosystem in every direction. The company is continually adding numerous partners under its aegis of strategic and advisory segments. Already having established itself in the US, the UK, China, and Israel, the company plans to extend further into the international market. “In parallel, we’re looking for additional ways of funding the startups with the sole intention of profiting them, and generate a fund larger than what our angel group can provide. The plan is to keep doing what we’re expert at. We will do our best to keep helping and growing semiconductor startups in every possible way,” concludes Rodriguez.