Efficient Computer Co. has secured $97 million in a funding round led by TQ Ventures. This investment brings the startup's total capital raised to $650 million. Previous participants included Eclipse, Union Square Ventures, Giant Ventures, Triatomic Capital, TO Capital, TF Capital, Mana Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Overmatch, and Borderless.
The company previously closed a $60 million round in February. The new capital is intended to scale production and increase shipments of its Electron E1 chip. According to TQ Ventures partner Andrew Marks, the company has already taped out four times and is currently shipping chips to customers at volume.
Efficient Computer is developing chips based on a data flow architecture. The company claims these processors can reduce energy consumption by up to 100 times compared to x86 architectures used by Intel and AMD. The design aims to maintain programmability while improving performance per watt.
The startup is initially targeting the market for small robots and autonomous drones that rely on battery power. CEO Brandon Lucia stated that the company plans to eventually expand into larger chips for data center servers. Efficient Computer has not disclosed specific revenue figures or customer names.
