Singapore-based deep tech startup SixSense has secured $8.5 million in a Series A funding round to scale its AI-powered platform designed to detect semiconductor defects in real time. The round, led by Peak XV’s Surge with support from Alpha Intelligence Capital and FEBE, brings the company’s total capital raised to approximately $12 million.
Solving the Semiconductor Quality Gap
Founded in 2018 by engineers Akanksha Jagwani (CEO) and Avni Agrawal (CTO), SixSense addresses a critical inefficiency in chip production: the reliance on manual, fragmented inspection processes. Despite the high-tech nature of fabrication facilities, the founders observed that most factories struggle to convert raw production data into actionable insights.
“The burden of decision-making still falls on engineers,” says Agrawal. “They must manually spot patterns and investigate anomalies, which is time-consuming, subjective, and fails to scale with modern process complexity.”
AI-Driven Efficiency for Process Engineers
The SixSense platform offers automated defect detection, root cause analysis, and failure prediction. Crucially, the system is engineered for process engineers rather than data scientists. Users can fine-tune models using proprietary factory data and deploy solutions in under two days without writing code.
The startup is already seeing significant traction, with deployments at major manufacturers including GlobalFoundries and JCET. To date, the platform has processed over 100 million chips, delivering measurable operational improvements:
- Up to 30% faster production cycles.
- A 1-2% increase in overall yield.
- A 90% reduction in manual inspection labor.
Global Expansion Amid Industry Shifts
SixSense currently supports inspection equipment covering more than 60% of the global market. While the company has established a strong presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Israel, it is now aggressively expanding into the United States.
Agrawal views current geopolitical shifts and the global race for manufacturing independence as a strategic tailwind. “Fabs are expanding in Malaysia, Vietnam, India, and the U.S. Many of these new facilities are starting fresh without legacy systems, making them ideal candidates for our AI-native approach from day one,” she noted.
The competitive landscape remains active, with SixSense vying against in-house engineering teams, traditional inspection equipment makers, and other startups such as Landing.ai and Robovision.