SCI Semiconductor: Sheffield firm to develop ‘new generation of chips’ after £5m fundraise
A Yorkshire-based semiconductor company which developed the world’s first ‘memory-safe’ computer chip has raised £5m to accelerate production and develop a “new generation of chips here in the UK.”
SCI Semiconductor, which is headquartered in Sheffield, has already fabricated its first devices and has secured orders to the value of over £2m.
The company has also won government contracts totalling £7.7m and agreed partnerships with Google Research and Microsoft.
Haydn Povey, CEO, said: “The problem of memory safety is finally being taken seriously. As AI is identifying hundreds of critical vulnerabilities, it is clear that huge swathes of technology are open to attack. Additionally with so much code generated by AI, the question is how much of it is fit for purpose and what risk that could pose to systems.
“The funding will enable us to step up production and develop a new generation of chips here in the UK.”
The firm’s £5m funding drive was led by two Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) fund managers, PXN Ventures and Mercia Ventures, which are responsible for NPIF II - PXN Equity Finance and NPIF II – Mercia Equity Finance respectively.
It also included investment from specialist cyber security seed investor Osney Capital, US-based Black Opal Ventures and private investors.
The latest round follows a £2.5m investment led by NPIF II and Mercia Ventures a year ago.
SCI Semiconductor was founded in 2022 by industry veteran Mr Povey, Silicon Valley executive Krishna Anne, and Microsoft Research specialist Dr David Chisnall, who were joined by academics from the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester.
The company currently employs 35 staff at its headquarters in Sheffield and its office in Cambridge, with plans to create another 15 jobs in the next year.
According to SCI, memory safety is the key factor in around 70 per cent of cyber attacks.
The company said that traditional software allows memory to be freely accessed, providing flexibility for developers but creating vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers.
It also means coding flaws can bring down an entire system, as in the 2024 CrowdStrike outages.
SCI’s solution is designed to divide memory into trusted compartments, tightly controlling how it is accessed.
Dr Elizabeth Young, investment manager at PXN Ventures, said: “We’re proud to be backing the SCI Semiconductor team, who are doing incredibly important work addressing rising threats to critical infrastructure and other key sectors with hardware-level cybersecurity, particularly as these threats become more sophisticated.”
Will Schaffer, investment director at Mercia Ventures, said SCI had “developed an elegant solution to a trillion-dollar problem” adding: “We are pleased to continue supporting them and look forward to seeing them go from strength to strength.”
Paul Wilkes, partner at Osney Capital, said: “SCI Semiconductor is the exactly the type of UK company Osney Capital seeks to support: world-leading technologists tackling global cyber security problems with commercial energy, focussed on execution.”