Mythic, the pioneering AI processor company with breakthrough analog compute-in-memory technology, has raised $13 million in a new round of funding. Mythic’s existing investors Atreides Management, DCVC, and Lux Capital contributed to the round, along with new investors Catapult Ventures and Hermann Hauser Investment (which is led by Hermann Hauser, one of the founders of Acorn Computers and the father of ARM semiconductors). Mythic also announced the appointment of its new CEO Dave Fick, who co-founded the company and previously served as CTO.
This investment will help Mythic bring to market its next-generation M2000 series product, which builds on the legacy of Mythic’s M1076 Analog Matrix Processor (Mythic AMP™) that is 10X more cost and power-efficient than digital solutions. Mythic’s M1076, which is already shipping to high-profile customers like Lockheed Martin, was the industry’s first to achieve 33ms latency on full HD high-accuracy object detectors like YOLOv5, while running in a cost and power envelope suitable for edge systems. With its unmatched efficiency and performance, Mythic is ushering in the next era of AI innovation for defense applications, enterprises, industrial environments, smart cities, the smart home, and beyond.
“Mythic’s technology is truly one of a kind with our analog computing approach that offers huge leaps in performance and efficiency compared to digital processors, not to mention substantial cost benefits. This new funding will help us accelerate our path forward to help companies to unlock the full potential of edge AI inferencing,” said Dave Fick, co-founder and CEO at Mythic. “Mythic has already seen strong demand for the M1076, so we’re confident that our next-generation processor will be widely adopted in computer vision applications like smart robots, security cameras, drones, and AR headsets. The potential for analog computing is truly limitless.”
Mythic delivers best-in-class power and performance thanks to its analog compute-in-memory (CIM) architecture that uses high-density analog memory to store neural networks completely on-chip – unlike digital solutions which need to swap data on and off chip. This density combined with integrated computation allows Mythic to deliver the same level of performance as a desktop GPU, in a platform that’s more compact, power-efficient, and cost-efficient. As a result, Mythic can bring powerful edge AI inferencing to everything from low-cost drones and tiny doorbell cameras to immersive AR headsets and huge robots.
“Despite being prevalent in our daily lives, the vast majority of AI workloads still run on expensive, power hungry processors in the cloud,” said Rouz Jazayeri, managing director of Catapult Ventures. “The future of AI applications will run on the edge and will require high performance, low latency, and low cost compute all in a low power footprint. Mythic’s Analog Matrix Processor is strongly positioned to lead this transition and help unlock a whole new set of Edge AI applications thanks to their world class power and cost efficient architecture.”
While Mythic’s technology is ideal for a wide range of applications, what is especially notable is the transformative impact it will have on public safety. Mythic’s powerful analog compute architecture can process full-resolution video at the edge – rather than having to send all the information to the cloud – so security cameras and drones can detect threats in real-time. Mythic’s compact and power-efficient platform also allows drones to fly for longer and go higher, and its powerful computer vision processing allows objects that are smaller or farther away to be identified more accurately.
“At Lockheed Martin Ventures we want to take smart risks by investing in advanced computing capabilities that our customers can adopt and expand to outpace complex threats within a rapidly evolving landscape,” said Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “As geopolitical tensions continue to rise, it is imperative that we continue to work with our customers in identifying their needs and supporting companies that can scale technologies that keep the U.S. and its allies in front of those threats.”
Mythic has raised $178M in funding to date. Under Dave’s leadership, the company recently restructured to be more capital efficient by keeping the development of Mythic’s key differentiating technology in-house with a tight-knit team. The company plans to further grow its headcount in 2024 as the M2000 series nears production.
