Tattvam AI Raises $1.7 Million Led by Seedcamp: IIT Madras Alumni-Built Startup Automates Chip Design with Generative AI
In a significant boost to India’s semiconductor ambitions, Chennai-rooted deep-tech startup Tattvam AI has raised $1.7 million in a pre-seed funding round led by European venture capital firm Seedcamp to revolutionize chip design through artificial intelligence.
The funding round, announced on February 25, 2026, also saw participation from EWOR, Entropy Industrial Ventures, Concept Ventures, and renowned semiconductor angel investor Stan Boland (former founder and CEO of Icera and Element 14) .
Tattvam AI aims to make custom silicon accessible to more companies, reduce development costs, and enable rapid iteration on chip designs—bringing what currently takes 2-3 years down to weeks, as per its claims . This comes at a time when deep tech funding in India is entering a more active phase, with startups across the semiconductor and AI ecosystem stitching together fresh funding rounds .
The Funding Round: Key Details
At a Glance
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Company | Tattvam AI |
| Founded | 2025 |
| Founders | Bragadeesh Suresh Babu (IIT Madras alumnus) and Lannan Jiang (ETH Zurich researcher) |
| Round | Pre-Seed Funding |
| Amount | $1.7 million (approximately ₹14.7 crore) |
| Lead Investor | Seedcamp |
| Other Investors | EWOR, Entropy Industrial Ventures, Concept Ventures, Stan Boland (angel) |
| Primary Use of Funds | Expand engineering team, accelerate research, bring first product to market, strengthen partnerships with chip design teams |
Investor Profile
Seedcamp, the lead investor, is one of Europe’s most active early-stage venture capital firms, known for backing category-defining companies across deep tech and software. Their investment in Tattvam AI signals strong international confidence in Indian deep-tech hardware innovation.
Stan Boland’s participation is particularly noteworthy. As the former founder and CEO of Icera (acquired by NVIDIA) and Element 14 (acquired by Broadcom), Boland brings decades of semiconductor industry expertise. His endorsement carries significant weight:
“Bragadeesh is one of the most driven, energetic and compelling young founders in today’s chip industry. His conviction that Tattvam AI will dramatically speed-up the complex and iterative process of using EDA tools and models to design chips, cutting timelines from years to weeks, is sure to be embraced by the world’s top teams” .
The Founders: IIT Madras and ETH Zurich Pedigree
Tattvam AI was founded in 2025 by Bragadeesh Suresh Babu and Lannan Jiang .
Bragadeesh Suresh Babu (CEO and Co-founder)
An alumnus of IIT Madras, Bragadeesh’s journey is a testament to deep-tech entrepreneurial ambition:
- Turned down an offer to join Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPU) team to pursue his startup vision
- Early engineer at UK-based brain-monitoring startup CoMind
- Early engineer at chip startup Fractile (specialized inference chips)
- Deep expertise at the intersection of AI and semiconductor engineering
Lannan Jiang (Co-founder)
- Chip researcher at a research lab at ETH Zurich (one of Europe’s leading technical universities)
- Brings deep domain expertise in chip development and architecture
The founding team spans London and Europe, combining IIT Madras’ engineering rigour with ETH Zurich’s cutting-edge semiconductor research .
The Problem: Chip Design’s Chronic Bottleneck
The Current Reality
Despite advances in AI-assisted coding on the software side, chip design remains largely manual, iterative, and dependent on a small pool of highly specialised engineers working with complex Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools .
| Challenge | Impact |
|---|---|
| Design cycles | 2-3 years from concept to tape-out |
| Engineering talent | Severe shortage of skilled chip designers |
| Cost | Millions of dollars per design |
| Iteration speed | Slow, expensive, and risk-averse |
| Access | Only well-funded players can afford custom silicon |
The Custom Silicon Explosion
The demand for custom silicon is exploding :
- AI training and inference require specialized processors (GPUs, AI accelerators)
- Hyperscalers (Google, Amazon, Meta) are building their own chips
- Autonomous vehicles demand high-performance, low-latency compute
- Edge AI needs power-efficient, purpose-built silicon
- Scientific computing requires specialized architectures
Companies like Nvidia and Google are making major investments in specialised processors designed with AI workloads in mind . However, chip design has continued to be a process that is mostly manual and meticulous and requires engineering talent that is in short supply .
The Gap
Current AI tools, even the most advanced large language models (LLMs), struggle with the deep structural understanding that chip design demands . They can assist with code generation but cannot reason about the complex trade-offs between power, performance, and area that define chip architecture.
As Bragadeesh explains:
“Chip design is fundamentally a reasoning problem over an enormous search space, not unlike the kind of reasoning that’s needed to solve hard problems in mathematics” .
Tattvam AI’s Solution: An AI Reasoning Model for Chip Design
The Core Technology
Tattvam AI is building what it calls the AI layer for semiconductor engineering—an AI system designed to deeply understand circuit structure and autonomously solve complex design tasks .
Unlike conventional EDA tools or LLM-based code assistants, Tattvam AI’s approach is fundamentally different:
“We’re building a reasoning model that actually understands circuits from first principles – the constraints, the trade-offs, the interdependencies – the same way a world-class engineer would, and doing it in a fraction of the time” .
Key Capabilities
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Circuit understanding | Deep comprehension of circuit structure from first principles |
| Autonomous problem-solving | Navigates complex design tasks without human intervention |
| Multi-dimensional optimization | Balances power, performance, and area (PPA) trade-offs |
| Rapid iteration | Enables design-space exploration at unprecedented speed |
| Integration with EDA tools | Works alongside existing electronic design automation workflows |
The Value Proposition
Tattvam AI’s technology promises to transform semiconductor development :
- Compress design cycles from 2-3 years to weeks
- Reduce development costs dramatically
- Make custom silicon accessible to more companies
- Enable rapid experimentation and iteration
- Improve system-level performance through better designs
Target Workflows
The AI system automates critical parts of the chip design workflow :
- RTL (Register Transfer Level) generation
- Design-space exploration
- Performance, power, and area (PPA) optimization
- Verification and validation
- Physical design assistance
Market Opportunity: The AI-Driven Semiconductor Boom
Global Semiconductor Market
The semiconductor industry is experiencing unprecedented demand, driven by:
- AI compute explosion (training and inference)
- Proliferation of edge devices (IoT, mobile, automotive)
- Custom silicon adoption by hyperscalers
- Geopolitical push for supply chain diversification
- India’s semiconductor mission and design-linked incentives
The Custom Silicon Advantage
Custom chips (application-specific integrated circuits or ASICs) offer:
- Up to 100x performance improvements for targeted workloads
- Lower power consumption compared to general-purpose chips
- Smaller form factors for specific applications
- Reduced system costs through integration
India’s Semiconductor Opportunity
The India angle is significant :
- India Semiconductor Mission providing policy support
- Design-linked incentive schemes encouraging innovation
- Strong engineering talent base (IITs, NITs, IIITs)
- Growing fabless ecosystem of chip design startups
- Strategic imperative for supply chain resilience
While large-scale fabrication remains capital-intensive, AI-led design automation could expand participation in advanced chip development from Indian engineering teams and startups .
How the Funds Will Be Used
1. Expand Engineering Team
The primary use of funds is to strengthen Tattvam AI’s engineering capabilities :
- Hiring top-tier AI and semiconductor talent
- Building a world-class research and development team
- Scaling from stealth mode to product-focused execution
2. Accelerate Research
- Training larger AI models on proprietary chip datasets
- Advancing the reasoning capabilities of the core technology
- Pushing toward production-grade tooling
3. Bring First Product to Market
Tattvam AI plans to launch its first product in the coming months . The fresh capital will enable:
- Productization of research prototypes
- Building user interfaces and developer tools
- Preparing for commercial rollout
4. Strengthen Partnerships
The startup is already working with partners to accelerate next-generation chip development . Funds will help:
- Deepen relationships with chip design houses
- Onboard early customers (fabless semiconductor companies, system integrators)
- Build ecosystem partnerships across the semiconductor value chain
The Competitive Landscape
Global Players in AI-Driven Chip Design
| Company | Focus |
|---|---|
| Synopsys | EDA tools with AI capabilities (Synopsys.ai) |
| Cadence | AI-driven design optimization |
| Siemens EDA | Integrated EDA platforms |
| NVIDIA | Omniverse for digital twins in chip design |
| Internal tools for TPU design |
Emerging Startups
| Company | Focus |
|---|---|
| Tattvam AI | AI reasoning model for chip design |
| Other deep-tech startups | Various approaches to design automation |
Tattvam AI’s Differentiation
- First-principles reasoning —Not just pattern matching or code generation, but deep circuit understanding
- Founders’ unique background —IIT Madras + ETH Zurich, experience at Fractile and CoMind
- Backing of semiconductor legend —Stan Boland’s active involvement
- India+Europe model —Access to talent and markets across both regions
- Timing —Perfect alignment with custom silicon explosion and India’s semiconductor push
The India Connection: IIT Madras and Chennai’s Deep-Tech Ecosystem
Tattvam AI’s roots in IIT Madras and connection to Chennai are significant for India’s semiconductor ambitions.
IIT Madras: A Semiconductor Powerhouse
IIT Madras has emerged as a leading institution for semiconductor research and deep-tech innovation :
- Strong curriculum in VLSI and chip design
- Research collaborations with industry
- Incubation support for deep-tech startups
- Alumni network spanning global semiconductor leaders
Chennai’s Deep-Tech Ecosystem
Chennai is increasingly recognized as a hub for semiconductor and deep-tech innovation:
| Startup | Focus |
|---|---|
| Tattvam AI | AI-driven chip design automation |
| Calligo Technologies | Semiconductor design |
| Morphing Machines | Processor architecture |
| Mindgrove | Chip design |
| Others | Growing cohort of deep-tech ventures |
This ecosystem benefits from:
- Strong engineering talent pool (IIT Madras, Anna University, etc.)
- Established manufacturing and industrial base
- Supportive state policies (Tamil Nadu’s EV and electronics push)
- Growing investor interest in deep-tech
The India Opportunity
Tattvam AI, while UK-based, is strategically positioned to serve both domestic Indian players and international clients :
- Domestic market —India’s growing fabless ecosystem needs design tools
- Policy support —India Semiconductor Mission, design-linked incentives
- Talent access —IIT Madras and other institutions provide engineering talent
- Cost advantage —Competitive development costs
- Global relevance —Solutions built for Indian needs have worldwide application
What This Means for Different Stakeholders
For Semiconductor Companies
- Faster design cycles from years to weeks
- Lower development costs making custom silicon accessible
- Ability to iterate rapidly on chip architectures
- Reduced dependency on scarce engineering talent
For Indian Startups and Fabless Companies
- Access to world-class design tools previously available only to large players
- Ability to build custom silicon for AI, automotive, and edge applications
- Reduced barriers to entry in semiconductor design
- Alignment with India Semiconductor Mission goals
For Investors
- Exposure to high-growth semiconductor AI space
- Backing of exceptional founding team with IIT Madras and ETH Zurich credentials
- Early entry into a potentially category-defining company
- Validation from Seedcamp and semiconductor legend Stan Boland
For India’s Deep-Tech Ecosystem
- Another success story from IIT Madras and Chennai’s ecosystem
- Validation that Indian founders can build world-class semiconductor AI
- Inspiration for more entrepreneurs to tackle hardware’s hardest problems
- Strengthening of India’s reputation in chip design innovation
The Road Ahead for Tattvam AI
Near-Term Milestones
- Launch first product in the coming months
- Expand engineering team with top-tier talent
- Deepen partnerships with chip design teams
- Validate technology with early customers
Medium-Term Goals
- Commercial rollout to broader market
- Scale AI models with more training data and compute
- Expand product portfolio across the design workflow
- Build sales and marketing capabilities
Long-Term Vision
- Transform semiconductor design through AI automation
- Make custom silicon accessible to every company
- Establish India as a hub for AI-driven chip design
- Enable the next generation of hardware innovation
As Bragadeesh articulates:
“The next disruption in semiconductors will come not only from new architectures — but also from automating how those architectures are built” .
Conclusion: A Proud Moment for Chennai’s Deep-Tech Ecosystem
Tattvam AI’s $1.7 million pre-seed funding led by Seedcamp is more than a financial milestone—it’s a validation of the thesis that Indian founders can build world-class semiconductor AI with global relevance.
The startup’s focus on:
- First-principles reasoning for chip design
- Deep circuit understanding rather than surface-level optimization
- IIT Madras pedigree and global research experience
- Timing aligned with custom silicon explosion
positions it as a significant player in the emerging AI-for-semiconductor landscape.
With the fresh capital, Tattvam AI is poised to:
- Launch its first product
- Scale its engineering team
- Build partnerships with chip design leaders
- Prove its technology in real-world applications
For India’s semiconductor ambitions, Tattvam AI’s success adds to the growing momentum—following Calligo Technologies, Morphing Machines, Mindgrove, and others—and reinforces that India can build next-gen chip design intelligence, not just assembly or testing.
For the global semiconductor industry, Tattvam AI represents a new approach to an old problem: how to compress design cycles from years to weeks, make custom silicon accessible to more players, and enable the rapid iteration that AI hardware demands.
As Stan Boland noted, the world’s top teams are sure to embrace this technology.
And it’s being built, in significant part, by an IIT Madras alumnus with roots in Chennai.
A proud moment for India’s deep-tech ecosystem and a clear sign that global VCs are betting big on Indian founders solving hardware’s hardest problems with AI.
