Astrus, a Montréal-based semiconductor startup, has raised $11 million CAD in seed funding to accelerate development of its AI platform for chip design.
The round was co-led by Inovia Capital and Relay Ventures, with participation from Cycle Capital, GoAhead Ventures, and Bluesky Equities.
Founded in 2022, Astrus is led by Co-Founder and CEO Brad Moon. The company is tackling one of the industry’s biggest pain points: the time, cost, and complexity of designing advanced chips.
AI for faster, cheaper chip design
Astrus’ platform automates critical stages of semiconductor design using machine learning models that can reduce design cycles from months to weeks. This makes it possible to deliver faster, more power-efficient chips at a fraction of today’s cost.
“Designing semiconductors has historically been slow, expensive, and dependent on scarce engineering talent,” said Abu-Hadba. “With AI, we can compress timelines, reduce costs, and expand access — helping the industry keep pace with global demand.”
The company says its system can lower non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs and ease the chip shortage challenges that affect sectors from automotive to consumer electronics.
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Growth plans
The company will use the fresh funding to scale its engineering team in Montréal and Toronto, expand partnerships with foundries and design houses, and further train its AI models.
With semiconductor design complexity rising and AI workloads demanding increasingly specialised chips, Astrus is positioning itself as a key enabler of next-generation hardware innovation.
