By Jane Lanhee Lee
OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) – Silicon Valley automotive ethernet chip startup Ethernovia Inc said Monday it had raised $64 million in a Series A funding round that included Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Qualcomm Ventures, VentureTech Alliance and others.
As automakers move to electric vehicles with more driver assistance features, they are revamping the electronics to eliminate dozens of cables criss-crossing the car connecting more than 100 microchips. Instead, they build a central computer to control everything from camera and radar sensors to the windows and entertainment dashboard.
Ramin Shirani, co-founder and CEO of Ethernovia, said he started the company in 2018 to build a single in-car Ethernet network that would be the backbone for these new vehicles.
“We’re not the brain of the car. We’re not the sensors of the car. But whatever connects the brain to the sensors, that’s where we are,” Shirani told Reuters.
Ethernovia has created a family of Ethernet chips and software that help simplify the car’s electronics architecture, he said.
The company said the funding would be used to further develop the products and build a team for marketing, sales and customer support. It declined to share the latest company valuation.
(Reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee; editing by Jamie Freed)
