Xinjuwei Technologies Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A Funding to Advance High-Performance Signal Chain ICs

VCBeat has learned that Chengdu Xin Ju Wei Technology Co., Ltd. (Silicoway) recently completed a Pre-A financing round worth tens of millions of RMB. The round was led by CASSTAR, with participation from Innocore Angel Fund and Xianfeng Qiyun. The funds will be used to accelerate product development and commercialization.

Over the past decade, numerous industry leaders have emerged across various specialized sectors in China, achieving domestic production of complete equipment in fields such as telecommunications, industrial manufacturing, and healthcare. However, certain core components remain heavily reliant on imports, significantly constraining the development of China’s high-end equipment industry.

Signal chain chips are an important branch of analog chips,Responsible for data acquisition and signal processing, it mainly consists of modules such as amplifiers, data converters, voltage references, and interfaces. Its key downstream application areas include communications, automotive, industrial, consumer electronics, and healthcare. The global market size for signal chain chips was $8.4 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow to $11.8 billion by 2023.

Analog-to-Digital/Digital-to-Analog (AD/DA) converter chips are among the segments with the highest technical barriers within signal chain chips,It converts analog signals generated in the real world (such as temperature, pressure, sound, fingerprints, or images) into digital signals and vice versa, serving as a bridge between the real world and the digital world.

Leading European and American companies such as ADI and TI, leveraging their historical accumulation and technological advantages, command over 80% of the signal chain chip market share, maintaining a monopolistic position, while the domestic self-sufficiency rate stands at merely 1%–3%. Meanwhile, under the Wassenaar Arrangement, high-performance data converter chips are classified as strategically controlled products subject to export restrictions by developed nations, thereby facing the risk of embargoes.

Faced with the reality of technological chokepoints, there is a strong demand for domestic substitution in the mid-to-high-end market among Chinese chip companies. Breakthroughs in products targeting high-barrier niche applications will help achieve import substitution and even surpass foreign competitors.

The core R&D team members of Silicoway Technology hail from prestigious universities and leading enterprises. With deep expertise in the signal chain chip industry, they possess strong R&D capabilities and extensive product development experience.Covering analog design, digital front-end design and verification, back-end implementation, application testing, and mass production, with extensive technological reserves in signal chain chips.

The team has mastered various data converter architectures, enabling the delivery of performance metrics tailored to different market applications and customers.For example, it meets the high-precision and low-power requirements of smart healthcare and precision manufacturing applications, as well as the high-speed, high-precision, and large-bandwidth requirements of high-end medical imaging, communications, and radar applications.

Meanwhile, the team has mastered a variety of calibration and filtering algorithms tailored to different architectures and performance metrics, delivering superior product performance through digital-assisted design. Furthermore, with extensive experience and strong research capabilities across multiple design and engineering stages, the team has established a comprehensive forward-design development platform for signal chain chips.

CoreSilicoway has achieved a systematic product layout in the fields of medical analog front-end chips, sensor signal acquisition chips, and high-speed, high-precision analog-to-digital converter (ADC) chips,Can be roughly divided intoFive categories comprising more than 15 models, covering multiple application scenarios including industrial, medical, communications, and new energy sectors,Will be rolled out successively in 2023–2024.

The company has chosen medical scenarios as its initial commercialization foothold. Electrocardiography (ECG) serves as the entry point for cardiovascular monitoring. In the medical sensing and ECG acquisition scenario, signal chain chips focus on precision, noise control, and power consumption management, with Texas Instruments’ (TI) series products currently dominating the market. Silicoway has completed the development and portfolio expansion of its analog front-end (AFE) products tailored for ECG applications. It plans to launch five models by the end of the year and achieve small-batch deliveries, addressing a domestic annual market volume exceeding ten million units.

Furthermore, signal chain chips used in medical imaging scenarios such as ultrasound, CT, and MRI typically need to meet both high-speed and high-precision performance requirements. Leading domestic imaging manufacturers still rely on imported chip brands. Silicoway has deployed two series of high-speed, high-precision chips for medical imaging applications, which are scheduled for mass production in 2024. These chips will also be compatible with test instruments and communication equipment.

Dr. Xiong Zhou, Founder of SilicowayIt is indicated that mid-to-high-end data converters and high-performance analog front-ends are core components enabling the digitization and intelligence of numerous emerging applications. Driven by the rapid growth in domestic sectors such as high-end industry, smart healthcare, the Internet of Things (IoT), high-end instrumentation, next-generation communications, and new energy, the volume of data converter and analog front-end chips will increase accordingly. Leveraging its in-depth research and reserves in analog technology, the Silicoway team will continue to innovate, delivering new market value and breakthroughs for end-customer products.

CASSTARDriven by the growing demand for high-performance chips from the rapidly expanding domestic downstream market for high-end and cutting-edge electronic products, as well as industry characteristics such as long product life cycles and fragmented application scenarios with weak competition, the overall development trend of China’s signal chain chip sector is positive, with steady growth in market size. Silicoway possesses a comprehensive design technology platform for signal chain chips, featuring capabilities in ultra-high precision, ultra-low power consumption, and strong noise immunity. It also has R&D capabilities for high-speed, high-precision signal chain chips. Currently, some of its products have entered the medical and communications sectors, indicating promising future prospects.

Inno Angel FundIt is indicated that the localization and iterative upgrading of analog integrated circuit products constitute a long-term process. Given the industry's substantial scale and numerous avenues for technological innovation, it possesses sufficient potential to sustain long-term industrial development in the future. By integrating top-tier talent from both academia and industry, Silicoway is poised to initially focus on analog-to-digital conversion products, thereby emerging as a competitive new force in China's analog IC design sector.

Xianfeng QiyunIt was stated that Silicoway’s team possesses extensive experience in signal chain chip design, with the capability to develop high-speed, high-precision, high-end signal chain chips. The company is capable of producing high-performance signal chain chips that meet the performance requirements of medical sensors. Beyond the medical sector, Silicoway is expected to provide various models of high-performance signal chain chip products to a broader range of industries in the future, thereby breaking the monopoly of imported high-end signal chain chips in the Chinese market.

CASSTAREstablished in September 2013, CASSTAR is an early-stage investment institution focused on the “hard tech” sector. As the originator of the “hard tech” concept and a pioneer in hard tech investment, CASSTAR is committed to building an integrated hard tech entrepreneurship ecosystem that combines “research institutions + early-stage investment + entrepreneurial platforms + post-investment services,” providing professional, in-depth, and comprehensive investment, incubation, and financing solutions for technology entrepreneurs. Focusing on key investment areas such as optoelectronic chips, artificial intelligence, aerospace, and intelligent manufacturing, CASSTAR primarily invests in start-up and early-stage small and medium-sized technology enterprises with growth potential and independent innovation capabilities.

Inno Angel Fund was established in April 2013, manages billions of RMB in assets, and has invested in over 500 innovative projects to date. Its investment management team possesses an average of more than 10 years of angel investment experience. Leveraging its foundation among Tsinghua University alumni, the fund has built a comprehensive startup support ecosystem. Committed to becoming a self-evolving, innovative angel investment platform, Inno Angel Fund adheres to the investment philosophy of “Investing in Innovation, Achieving Mutual Success.” It has deeply cultivated key entrepreneurial hubs including Beijing, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Silicon Valley in the United States, establishing a cross-regional network for investment and startup services characterized by high investment efficiency and rapid returns. The fund primarily focuses on sectors such as new energy and new materials, next-generation information technology, advanced manufacturing, and life sciences, with a main investment focus on the angel and Pre-A stages.

Xianfeng Qiyun (K2 Venture Partners), founded in 2016, is now focused on early-stage venture capital in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. We seek high-potential platform opportunities, maintain deep engagement with entrepreneurs, and are fully committed to supporting top scientists and founders in navigating the journey from zero to one.