INCIRT, a deeptech semiconductor startup, has raised €4.8 million in a funding round led by Lifeline Ventures, with participation from High Tech Gründerfonds.
Founded in 2022 as a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University, the company is developing next-generation data conversion technology aimed at improving performance in communication and sensing systems.
What The Company Does
INCIRT designs ultra-fast data converters that enable the transfer of signals between digital systems and real-world environments. These components are essential in applications such as telecommunications, radar, satellite systems, and data infrastructure, where speed, precision, and reliability are critical to overall system performance and operational efficiency.
The company’s core innovation lies in a new chip architecture that achieves significantly higher performance by leveraging intelligent parallelisation rather than relying on incremental improvements to existing designs. This approach allows conversion speeds up to 100 times faster than conventional methods, while maintaining energy efficiency and ensuring consistent signal integrity across demanding use cases.
Unlike many semiconductor advancements that depend on smaller and more expensive manufacturing nodes, INCIRT’s technology is designed to deliver performance gains without requiring cutting-edge fabrication processes. This approach may reduce production costs, accelerate deployment timelines, and improve accessibility within existing manufacturing ecosystems, making it easier to integrate into current industry workflows.
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Market Context / Industry Background
Data conversion is a foundational element of modern electronics, underpinning systems that process real-world signals such as sound, light, and radio waves across a wide range of applications. These include telecommunications, medical imaging, automotive systems, and industrial automation, where accurate signal translation is critical. As demand grows for high-speed communication, advanced sensing, and AI-driven applications, the limitations of traditional converter architectures are becoming more pronounced, particularly in terms of power consumption, scalability, and signal fidelity.
Current semiconductor development often relies on scaling down transistor sizes to achieve performance improvements, a strategy that significantly increases design complexity, manufacturing challenges, and overall cost. This approach also requires access to cutting-edge fabrication facilities, which are concentrated among a small number of global players. At the same time, geopolitical and industrial priorities are driving coordinated efforts to strengthen regional semiconductor capabilities, particularly in Europe, where governments and industry stakeholders are investing in local innovation, infrastructure, and supply chain independence.
Technologies that can deliver performance improvements without dependence on advanced manufacturing nodes are therefore becoming increasingly relevant. Such approaches offer potential advantages in cost efficiency, design flexibility, and time-to-market, while also reducing reliance on highly specialized fabrication processes. In this context, they play a key role in supporting regional supply chain resilience, enabling a broader range of companies to participate in semiconductor innovation and helping to mitigate risks associated with global supply disruptions.
Founder / Investor Commentary
Co-founder and CEO Oner Hanay stated that the company’s architecture enables performance gains that are difficult to achieve through conventional semiconductor development. He also emphasized the strategic implications of building high-performance chips using European manufacturing capabilities, positioning the technology within broader discussions around digital sovereignty.
Hanay noted that one long-term objective is to see INCIRT’s technology integrated into thousands of European satellite systems over the next decade, highlighting the potential scale of its applications.
Growth Plans / Use Of Funds
The newly raised capital will be used to advance product development, validate the technology in industrial settings, and prepare for initial customer deployments. INCIRT is focused on moving from research and prototyping toward commercialisation, including engagement with early partners across relevant industries.
The company is expected to prioritize applications in high-demand sectors such as satellite communications, mobile networks, radar systems, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and data centers.
About INCIRT
INCIRT is a semiconductor deeptech company specializing in high-speed data conversion technology. Founded in 2022. Headquartered in Aachen, Germany. The company develops chip architectures designed to improve signal processing performance while enabling more efficient and scalable semiconductor solutions.
