Deeptech startup Mosaic SoC has raised $3.8 million in a pre-seed round to develop energy-efficient chips designed for spatial intelligence in next-generation consumer devices.
The round was led by Founderful, with participation from Kick Foundation.
Solving The Power Problem In Smart Devices
Mosaic SoC is focused on enabling real-time perception in devices such as AR glasses, AI-powered wearables, and always-on vision systems—without the heavy energy demands of traditional processors.
Today, many of these capabilities rely on GPUs and high-performance chips that consume significant power, generate heat, and limit device design. This makes it difficult to build compact, lightweight products like everyday smart glasses.
Mosaic SoC addresses this gap with a dedicated perception chip designed to process visual and sensor data directly on-device, reducing reliance on power-hungry systems.
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From Sensors To Real-Time Understanding
Founded by Moritz Scherer and Alfio Di Mauro—both PhD graduates from ETH Zurich—the company is building chips that allow devices to interpret their surroundings in real time.
Its technology enables features such as object recognition, environmental mapping, and location awareness directly on-device. This allows devices to react instantly—for example, activating recording only when specific objects or events are detected, significantly improving battery efficiency.
A New Architecture For Always-On AI
Unlike traditional chip designs based on standard ARM cores, Mosaic SoC is developing a custom multi-core architecture optimized for continuous, low-power perception.
The system is built to support advanced spatial computing tasks such as SLAM (simultaneous localisation and mapping) and object detection, while maintaining minimal energy consumption.
This approach aims to unlock new product categories, including lightweight smart glasses that resemble conventional eyewear but offer full spatial awareness.
Early Traction And Platform Vision
Within its first year, the company has already generated revenue through engineering contracts with hardware partners. As it moves toward production, Mosaic SoC plans to transition to a scalable revenue model based on chip sales.
Beyond hardware, the startup is also developing software tooling, including compilers and AI deployment frameworks, allowing developers to build and optimise applications directly on its architecture.
Over time, Mosaic SoC aims to evolve into a full platform provider, where both hardware and software ecosystems are tightly integrated.
About Mosaic SoC
Mosaic SoC is a semiconductor startup designing low-power chips for spatial intelligence. Its platform combines custom silicon and software to enable real-time perception in devices such as wearables, mobile devices, and robotics, delivering always-on AI capabilities with minimal energy consumption.
