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Quadric

Category: AI Infrastructure

A developer of the Chimera GPNPU (General Purpose Neural Processing Unit), a unified processor IP architecture that combines the high-performance efficiency of an NPU with the full programmability of a CPU and DSP. Quadric was founded in 2016. The company is led by Veerbhan Kheterpal. Based in Burlingame, USA. Team size: 50-100. Total funding raised: $90.0M (Series C extended to $46M). Latest round: Series C. Key investors include BEENEXT, IFC (International Finance Corporation), NSITEXE (Denso), MegaChips, Uncork Capital, Pear VC, Volta, Offline Ventures, Gentree, Wanxiang America, Pivotal, Silicon Catalyst Ventures.

AMW Analysis

Quadric develops the Chimera GPNPU, a unified processor IP architecture that merges NPU-level neural network inference performance with the full programmability of a CPU and DSP on a single core, aiming to eliminate the "two-processor" bottleneck and reduce latency, power consumption, and software complexity for developers. Founded in 2016 and based in Burlingame, USA, the company has raised $72.0M in total funding, most recently a $30M Series C in January 2026, backed by investors including BEENEXT, NSITEXE (Denso), MegaChips, Uncork Capital, Pear VC, and Volta Ventures.

Recent news flow shows Quadric building on that Series C by moving to expand its India R&D facility in Pune, a step the company frames as tied to the growing strategic importance of India within the global AI semiconductor ecosystem. Coverage around the funding round also describes the Chimera architecture supporting large local language model inference and positions the company's technology toward automotive and laptop applications, with an emphasis on faster development timelines for production-ready AI silicon. Together, the funding and expansion news point to a company scaling its edge AI chip architecture and broadening its geographic R&D footprint following its latest capital raise.

AMW analysis, generated from 2 tracked news signals.

Founded
2016
Headquarters
Burlingame, USA
Team size
50-100
Total funding
$90.0M (Series C extended to $46M)

Value proposition

Eliminates the 'two-processor' bottleneck by allowing developers to run both neural network inference and general-purpose C++ code on a single unified core, significantly reducing latency, power consumption, and software complexity.

Products and solutions

Chimera GPNPU IP Cores (QB Series and QC Series), Chimera QC-M (Multi-core cluster scaling up to 864 TOPS; multi-chiplet configs over 3200 TOPS), Chimera SDK / Developers Studio (Unified C++/Python programming environment), Chimera Graph Compiler (Automated model conversion), Safety Enhanced (SE) Versions (ASIL-B and ASIL-D compliant for automotive)

Unique value

Pioneered the 'GPNPU' category, which treats AI as a general-purpose computing task rather than a fixed-function 'black box' acceleration, enabling the entire application pipeline to run on one core.

Target customer

System-on-Chip (SoC) developers, semiconductor companies, and OEMs in the automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics sectors.

Industries served

Automotive (ADAS and Autonomous Driving), Industrial Robotics and Automation, Consumer Electronics (IoT, Wearables, AI PCs), Medical Imaging, Enterprise Vision Systems

Technology advantage

Provides a single-source C++ programming model that removes the need for manual code partitioning between NPUs and DSPs, offering up to 2.7x greater compute density (TOPs/mm2) than previous generations.

How they differentiate

Quadric differentiates through its 'GPNPU' (General Purpose Neural Processing Unit) architecture. Unlike traditional NPUs that require a separate DSP or CPU to handle non-neural network code (pre/post-processing), Quadric’s Chimera architecture runs both AI inference and general-purpose C++ code on a single unified core, eliminating data movement bottlenecks and simplifying software development.

Main competitors

Arm (Ethos-U and Ethos-N series), Cadence (Tensilica AI IP), Synopsys (DesignWare ARC EV Processors), Hailo, Blaize

Key partnerships

DENSO (Co-development of in-vehicle AI semiconductors), Kyocera (Licensing partner for consumer and automotive products), MegaChips (Strategic investor and integration partner), NSITEXE (Subsidiary of DENSO for automotive IP), Tier IV (Autonomous driving software integration)

Notable customers

Denso, Kyocera, MegaChips, Tier IV

Major milestones

Pioneered the 'GPNPU' category for unified AI and C++ processing., Achieved ASIL-B and ASIL-D safety compliance for automotive applications., Successfully transitioned from a hardware-chip company to a Silicon IP licensing model., Closed oversubscribed $30M Series C first close in January 2026 (BEENEXT-led)., Extended Series C to $46M in July 2026 with second close led by World Bank's IFC; total capital $90M., Chimera GPNPU named 2025 Best Edge AI Processor IP by Edge AI and Vision Alliance.

Growth metrics

Product revenues more than tripled in 2025 vs 2024; company reached profitability ahead of Series C second close (Jul 2026).

Market positioning

High-performance Silicon IP provider for Edge AI, targeting the 'middle ground' between low-power microcontrollers and high-end server GPUs.

Geographic focus

Global, with a primary focus on North America and the Asia-Pacific region (specifically Japan, due to strategic partnerships with Denso and MegaChips).

Patents and IP

Holds a significant portfolio of patents related to parallel processing architectures, data flow management, and unified memory structures for on-device AI (specific public filings include proprietary GPNPU architecture designs).

About Veerbhan Kheterpal

Veerbhan Kheterpal is a serial entrepreneur and semiconductor expert with over 20 years of experience in silicon and software. He was a technical co-founder of 21.co (formerly 21inc, acquired by Coinbase), where he led the development of power-efficient ASICs. Previously, he served as VP of Engineering at Factual (acquired by Foursquare) and held senior engineering roles at PDF Solutions. He holds a PhD and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur.

Latest news about Quadric

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