Blumind - Series A, $20M

There’s something oddly poetic about an analog chip startup called Blumind going digital in all the right ways. In a world wired on AI hype and GPU hoarding, these folks quietly built something that doesn’t just whisper change, it shouts it in less than a milliwatt.

Founded in 2020 (not 2023, let’s get the receipts right), Blumind is based in Ottawa and led by Niraj Mathur, a 25-year semiconductor vet whose resume reads like a circuit board of serious pedigree: Nortel, Rambus, Semtech. Alongside CTO and co-founder John Gosson, a neural network OG in his own right, they’ve been cooking something that doesn’t just play the AI game, it rewrites the power grid it runs on.

Their AMPL platform isn’t a chip trying to squeeze into the AI conversation. It’s an analog assassin built for event-driven compute, no ADCs, no DACs, no excuses. Think neuromorphic architecture that channels biology, not brute force. We’re talking submillisecond latency and power profiles that make today’s ASICs look like coal furnaces in a lithium world. They’re not camped out in R&D dreamland either. This thing tapes out on standard 28nm–65nm CMOS. Translation: it’s real, it’s compatible, and it’s on its way.

And now? $20M CAD in fresh Series A firepower, co-led by Cycle Capital and BDC Capital, with Fusion Fund, Two Small Fish Ventures, and Real Ventures in the mix. Add in earlier rounds through Creative Destruction Lab and Venturelab, and we’re at $23M CAD raised. But this isn’t just capital, it’s conviction. A bet on a team rewriting the way chips sip power instead of chugging it.

Blumind isn’t chasing benchmarks. They’re shipping first-gen sensor processors, then moving fast into chips built for vision and large language models. All while scaling their engineering muscle across Ottawa and Toronto and locking in tier-1 traction across industrial, mobility, and medical sectors.

And this isn’t some hypothetical science fair. Blumind’s chips don’t sip power, they breathe it. We’re talking multi-year battery life on edge devices that used to croak after a weekend. That’s a game-changer for intelligent systems in safety, mobility, and healthcare, where latency isn’t just lag, it’s survival. While the rest of the industry scales data centers like subdivisions, Blumind is making edge AI sustainable.

And no, they didn’t pull up to CES 2025 for lanyards and lunch. They brought evaluation kits and walked out on a “Top 10 AI Hardware Startups” list. That’s not a booth visit. That’s a statement.

Props to Niraj Mathur and John Gosson for keeping it heads down while building something this loud. Blumind isn’t trying to out-GPU the GPU crowd. They’re redefining what power means, with analog elegance and disruptive clarity.