Investors and companies are working to leverage advances in artificial intelligence to achieve breakthroughs in technologies such as robotics and autonomous vehicles. This emerging field is now often called “physical AI.” As a result, some of the billions of dollars flowing into AI startups is beginning to spill over to the suppliers doing the essential behind-the-scenes work to turn these technologies into reality.
A recent example is Ethernovia, which announced a ninety million dollar Series B funding round. The San Jose-based company manufactures Ethernet-based processors. These processors help gather data from sensors distributed throughout a system, like those in an autonomous vehicle, and rapidly move that data to a central computer for processing.
The company had existing backing from Porsche SE and Qualcomm Ventures. This new round, however, was led by Maverick Silicon, an AI-focused fund created in 2024 by the hedge fund Maverick Capital. This marked the first sector-specific fund launched by Maverick Capital in its thirty-year history. This level of attention and funding is something we are likely to see more of throughout the year, as investors seek to boost more under-the-radar companies like Ethernovia.