Silicon Catalyst for Start-ups Opens in UK

Silicon Catalyst, an “incubator” focused on accelerating solutions in silicon, has announced SiliconCatalyst.UK, bringing Silicon Catalyst’s platform locally to the UK and European start-ups.

Silicon Catalyst’s mission is to help semiconductor hardware start-ups succeed. The Portfolio Companies in the Accelerator utilize In-Kind Partners (IKP) tools and services including design tools, simulation software, design services, foundry PDK access and MPW runs, test program development, tester access, and banking and legal services.

“The UK has incredible innovation through its world-class universities, already significant startup community, and support from the government”, said Dr Ron Black, one of the two executives heading up the UK branch. “We look forward to working closely with the U.K. start-up ecosystem, bringing a small part of Silicon Valley to further accelerate entrepreneurial teams to their full potential. We will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, and invite members of the semiconductor value chain to attend and learn more about our comprehensive accelerator program”.

The SiliconCatalyst.UK webinar is for interested start-ups, university staff, investors, and potential in-kind partners. The webinar will feature presentations by Vaysh Kewada, CEO of Salience Labs in Cambridge and Huw Davies, CEO of Trameto in Wales, both UK companies in the Silicon Catalyst Portfolio. Also presenting will be other Silicon Catalyst partners. Registration details will be available shortly.

Nick Kepler, Chief Operating Officer of Silicon Catalyst, said, “Silicon Catalyst exists to help start-ups, and we’re excited for the opportunity to accelerate the technology innovation happening in the United Kingdom. Over the last six years, Silicon Catalyst has made available to its Portfolio Companies over $100 million dollars of in-kind services and helped them to raise more than $250 million dollars in funding. In addition, many of our Portfolio Companies credit their success to the extensive network of nearly 200 advisors which saved them literally years by avoiding mistakes that most start-ups make”.

More than 400 start-up companies have engaged with Silicon Catalyst since April 2015, with a total of 38 start-up and early-stage companies admitted to the incubator. The Silicon Catalyst Angels was established in July 2019 as a separate organization to provide access to seed and Series A funding for Silicon Catalyst portfolio companies.

“ST works with a large number of innovative tech start-ups across the world to help them develop and industrialize their products and get to market faster, targeting automotive, industrial, personal electronics and communication infrastructure applications”, said Kirk Ouellette, Vice President Strategic Marketing and Strategy Development, STMicroelectronics. “Our engagement as a Silicon Catalyst Strategic and In-Kind Partner helps us find and engage with relevant start-ups and surrounds them with the supportive Silicon Catalyst ecosystem that is critical to their success. We look forward with excitement to engage with many more start-ups and the various tech ecosystems in the U.K. with this additional Silicon Catalyst team”.

For early-stage companies interested in applying to the Silicon Catalyst Accelerator, the deadline is July 2, 2021, for the next screening cycle.

You can find more information about Silicon Catalyst and its UK on its website.

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