Silicon Catalyst Ventures Launched With 8 Fundings

Silicon Catalyst Inc. is a unique incubator dedicated exclusively to the semiconductor industry. Founded in 2015, SCI provides a comprehensive ecosystem to support semiconductor startups. You can see the full list of available resources on the Silicon Catalyst website.

We recently covered the ground breaking Silicon Catalyst Arm Start-up Contest which resulted in the award of $400,000 Arm technology credit!

Today’s announcement launches Silicon Catalyst Ventures to support Semiconductor Startups deploying $10M to $20M for its first series and is focused on investing in early-stage entrepreneurial teams developing semiconductor-based innovations.

Official Press Release

The SC Ventures team is led by seasoned investment and technology experts, including the former CEO of UMC Dr. Shih-Wei Sun, in close collaboration with Silicon Catalyst. Dr Sun joined Silicon Catalyst as an advisor and investor, as well as a member of the Silicon Catalyst Angels Investment group for the past two years:

“Silicon Catalyst Ventures was formed as an extension of Silicon Catalyst, the world’s only incubator + accelerator focused on semiconductor solutions. It has been formed primarily, but not exclusively, to fund and foster Silicon Catalyst Portfolio Companies.,” stated Dr. Sun. “This close association between our fund and the Silicon Catalyst incubator affords investors unique access to startup teams whose technology and businesses are de-risked throughout a thorough and rigorous incubator screening process and then, when accepted, through Silicon Catalyst’s world-class two-year incubation. With our top-ranked semiconductor LPs, we bring additional ecosystem and supply-chain values to our startups. Silicon Catalyst Ventures is looking forward to tapping into the immense financial and societal value of our industry in this Silicon Renaissance era.”

Joining Dr. Sun and Pete Rodriguez (CEO of Silicon Catalyst) in the leadership team of Silicon Catalyst Ventures are:

Laura Swan – General Partner and Portfolio Manager
Laura oversees portfolio company management at SCV. Laura is a Managing Partner with Silicon Catalyst and the Vice President of Operations for Silicon Catalyst Angels.

Kai Chen – General Partner and Fund Manager
Kai oversees fund administration and investor relations at SCV. He is the founder and CEO of OceanIQ Capital, an investment advisory firm that he started in 2013.

Julian Lee – Managing Director
Mr. Lee has 35 years of professional experience in investment banking and the telecom/media industry.

One of the people joining Dr. Sun on the leadership team of Silicon Catalyst Ventures is new (to me) member Kai Chen.

Kai is the Founder and CEO of OceanIQ Capital, a boutique private wealth manager that manages portfolios for cross-border families. He was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and executing investments in over 20 private equity, venture capital, and real estate funds as LPs, as well as over 30 venture-backed start-ups as SPVs. Kai oversees fund administration and investor relations at SCV. Kai Was brought in by Dr SW Sun to raise capital for the investments.

I spoke with Kai and asked what excites him most about the semiconductor industry. He said he did a study of the largest companies in the world and now more than half are semiconductors. In his view semiconductors are underinvested and acquisitions are just starting to ramp up so there is plenty of opportunity. The one concern he had, that I share, is that AI infrastructure is by far outspending AI revenue which may lead to a bubble at some point in time.

Here are the initial SCV investments from the Silicon Catalyst Incubator with more to come:

Silicon Catalyst Incubator Application Deadline

The deal flow for Silicon Catalyst Ventures is primarily sourced from companies that are admitted to the Silicon Catalyst Incubator. Early-stage semiconductor companies that are admitted to the Incubator will be eligible to receive an investment from Silicon Catalyst Ventures.

The application deadline for Silicon Catalyst is July 12, 2024; details can be found at https://siliconcatalyst.com/application

If you are a startup and interested in applying for funding, please apply through the Silicon Catalyst Incubator – www.sicatalyst.com

If you are interested in becoming a Limited Partner, contact laura@sicatalystvc.com.