Nexstrom, a Singapore-based semiconductor materials startup, raised $12m in a seed round led by Xora Innovation, the company announced on 22 September 2026. Foothill Ventures and SEEDS, an arm of SG Growth Capital, also took part.
The round lifts the company's total capital to $15m, a figure that includes $3m in non-dilutive funding, according to the company's website and reports by Pulse 2.0 and Evertiq. Nexstrom did not disclose a valuation.
The startup is trying to produce single-crystal two-dimensional semiconductor materials on 12-inch, or 300mm, wafers, the standard size used in leading chip plants, using tools that it says are ready for production.
“For years, the challenge has not been demonstrating the promise of 2D materials, but manufacturing them at the scale and quality advanced foundries require.”Dr Lance Li, Co-founder and Chief Scientist, Nexstrom
What Nexstrom does
Two-dimensional semiconductors are materials only a few atoms thick. Molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), one of the transition metal dichalcogenides Nexstrom works with, is the best-known example. Chipmakers have studied such materials as a possible channel for future transistors because silicon becomes harder to shrink without current leakage and power loss, a concern for energy-hungry AI chips.
Nexstrom's platform combines its own chemical vapour deposition hardware, its growth processes and automated wafer handling. Its website describes a cold-wall CVD system for wafer-scale growth and lists commercial-grade synthesis on 300mm wafers as a 2026 milestone. According to e27, the company is working with industry partners, which it did not name, to validate the technology in existing manufacturing workflows.
The company's pitch is that its system fits into a foundry's current process rather than requiring a new production line. Evertiq reported that the company contrasts this with methods that yield only small lab samples or need changes to foundry processes. The company's performance claims, including lower defect density and switching power, have not been independently verified.
Who is behind it
Nexstrom was founded in 2024 and incubated through Xora Innovation's venture-building programme, which turns scientific research into companies. Xora is listed on Nexstrom's own timeline as a co-founder alongside Dr Lance Li.
Li, the co-founder and chief scientist, has worked on growing single-crystal MoS2 since 2012 and later led corporate research on post-silicon electronics at TSMC, according to e27 and Pulse 2.0. He has been on Clarivate's list of highly cited researchers since 2018. The company's website also names Dr Phoebe Tan as a co-founder.
Nexstrom's board and advisory group includes Dr Sundar Ramamurthy, Dr Aaron Thean, Dr John Langan and Stanford University professor Dr Philip Wong. Wong told SiliconANGLE that the industry needs high-quality, uniform 2D materials on 300mm substrates.
"For years, the challenge has not been demonstrating the promise of 2D materials, but manufacturing them at the scale and quality advanced foundries require," Li said.
What the money is for
Nexstrom said it would use the seed funding to develop its platform further, deepen its work with semiconductor foundries and expand its engineering and leadership teams. The company is hiring in Singapore across engineering, science and operations, according to its website.
Its stated near-term target is to become the first company to run a 12-inch single-crystal 2D semiconductor growth platform on production-ready tools. The company is aiming at chips for AI, data centres and high-performance computing, where lower power use per transistor is a priority.
A crowded research field
Large chipmakers and research bodies, including TSMC, Samsung, Intel and imec, have explored 2D materials for future transistor channels, according to e27. Most work so far has produced small samples in labs rather than full wafers made on production equipment, which is the gap Nexstrom says it is targeting.
The company has not disclosed customers, revenue or a timeline for commercial shipments.
Company website: nexstrom.com