Singapore-based SixSense, a startup developing an AI platform that helps detect chip defects on production lines, has raised $8.5 million in a Series A funding round.

Led by Peak XV’s Surge with participation from Alpha Intelligence Capital and FEBE, it brings the total raised by the company to $12m.

Founded in 2018 by CEO Akanksha Jagwani and CTO Avni Agrawal, SixSense’s AI-ADC platform is described by the company as an “end-to-end solution for automating visual inspection” that aims to reduce the burden of in-fab decision making on engineers by converting raw production data, such as defect images or equipment signals, into real-time insights that help factories prevent quality issues and improve yield.

The platform provides capabilities such as defect detection, root cause analysis, and failure prediction, providing engineers with early warnings to address potential issues before they escalate.

“The burden of using [current display data] for decision-making still falls on engineers: [they must] spot patterns, investigate anomalies, and trace root causes. That’s time-consuming, subjective, and doesn’t scale well with increasing process complexity,” Agarwal said in an interview with TechCrunch.

“Process engineers can fine-tune [SixSense’s] models using their own fab data, deploy them in under two days, and trust the results – all without writing a single line of code. That’s what makes the platform both powerful and practical.”

Semiconductor manufacturers, including GlobalFoundries and ICET, have already deployed the platform, with SixSense claiming that customers have reported up to 30 percent faster production cycles, a 90 percent reduction in manual inspection work, and a 1-2 percent boost in yield.

To date, the platform has already processed more than 100 million chips, SixSense says, adding that the system is compatible with inspection equipment used by around 60 percent of the global market.

“Our target customers are large-scale chipmakers – including foundries, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers (OSATs), and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs),” Agarwal said in the same interview. “We’re already working with fabs in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Israel, and are now expanding into the US.”