Reading and writing data faster, Intrinsic Semiconductor Technologies raises £7 million

University College London spinout Intrinsic Semiconductor Technologies has raised £7 million in a new funding round. Working in the field of non-volatile memory, the startup intends to use the new capital to expand its engineering team and bring its offer to market, in what it hopes will usher in a new generation of smart devices. 

Intrinsic’s £7 million round was led by Octopus Ventures, with existing investors IP Group and the UCL Technology Fund participating. The investment round also saw £1 million in grant funding provided by InnovateUK.

Based on more than a decade’s research at University College London, Intrinsic has developed an approach to non-volatile memory, e.g. storage, that uses resistive random access memory, or RRAM, a potential replacement for the status quo of flash memory. 

According to the startup, their technology can read data 10x to 100x faster and write it 1000x faster than existing solutions and uses standard, frequently used materials, which are less complex or expensive compared to other RRAM solutions. 

“We believe RRAM has the potential to become the backbone for the next generation of edge and IoT computers at a time when data-hungry intelligent applications are becoming more and more prevalent,” said Intrinsic Semiconductor Technologies CEO Mark Dickinson. “Companies want to integrate more intelligence into self-contained applications and devices so that they can operate autonomously but this requires a paradigm shift in how memory is employed in these environments. By focussing on simplicity and manufacturability in our approach to RRAM we will open up a whole new array of market opportunities and this funding will play a critical role in helping us to attract highly skilled engineers to build out the commercial potential of Intrinsic.”