A Singapore-based deep tech startup called SixSense has developed an AI-powered platform that helps semiconductor manufacturers predict and detect potential chip defects on production lines in real time. The company has raised $8.5 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to around $12 million. The round was led by Peak XV’s Surge, with participation from Alpha Intelligence Capital, Febe, and others.
Founded in 2018 by engineers Akanksha Jagwani and Avni Agarwal, SixSense addresses a critical challenge in semiconductor manufacturing: converting raw production data—from defect images to equipment signals—into real-time insights that help factories prevent quality issues and improve yield. Despite the vast amount of data generated on the fab floor, the co-founders noticed a surprising lack of real-time intelligence.
Akanksha Jagwani, the CTO, brings deep expertise in manufacturing, quality control, and software automation from her work at companies like Hyundai Motors and GE, as well as her experience leading product development at startups like Embibe. Avni Agarwal, the CEO, has a technical background from her time at Visa, where she built large-scale data analytics systems, some of which were later protected as trade secrets. A skilled coder with a strong foundation in mathematics, she has long been interested in applying AI beyond fintech.
After evaluating various industries, the founders chose to focus on semiconductors. Despite the sector’s reputation for precision, inspection processes remain largely manual and fragmented. Agarwal explained that after speaking with more than 50 engineers, it became clear there was significant room to modernize quality checks.
Fabs today rely on dashboards, SPC charts, and inline inspection systems, but most only display data without deeper analysis. Agarwal noted that the burden of decision-making still falls on engineers, who must manually spot patterns, investigate anomalies, and trace root causes—a process that is time-consuming, subjective, and difficult to scale as process complexity increases.
SixSense provides engineers with early warnings to address potential issues before they escalate, offering capabilities such as defect detection, root cause analysis, and failure prediction. The platform is designed for process engineers rather than data scientists, allowing them to fine-tune models using their own fab data, deploy them in under two days, and trust the results—all without writing code.
The competitive landscape includes in-house engineering teams using tools like Cognex and Halcon, inspection equipment makers integrating AI, and startups such as Landing.ai and Robovision. SixSense’s AI platform is already in use at major semiconductor manufacturers like GlobalFoundries and JCET, with over 100 million chips processed to date. Customers have reported up to 30% faster production cycles, a 1–2% boost in yield, and a 90% reduction in manual inspection work. The system is compatible with inspection equipment covering over 60% of the global market.
SixSense primarily serves large-scale chipmakers, including foundries, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers, and integrated device manufacturers. The company is already working with fabs in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Israel, and is now expanding into the U.S.
Geopolitical tensions, particularly between the U.S. and China, are reshaping semiconductor manufacturing, driving new investments in regions like Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, India, and the U.S. Agarwal sees this as an opportunity for SixSense, as new facilities without legacy systems are more open to AI-native solutions from the outset.