Mindgrove launched Secure IoT, a RISC-V chip it calls India's first commercial SoC

IIT Madras-incubated fabless semiconductor startup designing system-on-chip products on RISC-V

Right-sized chips for the middle of the embedded market, built on open RISC-V and Shakti cores, can win Indian OEMs on cost and security

$2.32M seed round led by Peak XV Partners in 2023

Shashwath TR and Sharan Srinivas Jagathrakshakan founded Mindgrove in 2021 and have worked on system-on-chip development since. It uses indigenous RISC-V Shakti cores to power its chips.

During research and development the team saw a wide gap between high-end and low-end players in embedded systems and chose to target the middle market, which it calls 'right-sizing'. In 2023 it raised a $2.32M seed led by Peak XV Partners.

In May 2024 Mindgrove rolled out Secure IoT, which it described as India's first commercial high-performance SoC, designed on the open-source RISC-V ISA. The startup claims it costs 30% less than other chips in similar segments and expects it to improve OEM cost efficiency by 30%.

A wide gap existed between high-end and low-end embedded chips

The middle market needed flexibility, security and cost-efficiency

Open-source RISC-V and Shakti cores allowed an indigenous design

Government support for fabless chip startups was growing

Mindgrove targeted the underserved middle of the embedded chip market rather than competing at the top end, but its 30% saving is a company claim.

As of 2024-05-06 Secure IoT was launched commercially, with no customer or volume figures reported. The 30% cost advantage is the company's claim.