Syenta, an Australian semiconductor startup that makes chip-to-chip interconnects for AI hardware, raised a $26m Series A round, announced on 21 April 2026. Playground Global and Australia's National Reconstruction Fund led the financing. No valuation was disclosed.
Existing investors Investible, Salus Ventures, Jelix Ventures and Wollemi Capital also took part, according to Converge Digest. Converge Digest said Syenta has raised more than $36m in total.
Pat Gelsinger, a general partner at Playground Global and a former chief executive of Intel, is joining Syenta's board as part of the investment.
“We're enabling finer-pitch connections within existing manufacturing infrastructure”Jekaterina Viktorova, CEO and founder, Syenta
What Syenta does
The company's technology is called Localized Electrochemical Manufacturing, or LEM. Converge Digest described it as an additive electrochemical process that uses functional inks to build interconnects at micron scale. SiliconANGLE reported that Syenta combines deposition and patterning into a single step, using a patterned electrode that stamps copper structures onto chips, and that it claims it can make the connections in minutes rather than the hours a fab typically needs. It also claims it can create sub-micron links.
Converge Digest reported company claims of about 40% fewer process steps and improved manufacturing efficiency. These are the company's own figures and the sources did not describe independent testing.
The aim is to ease a limit in advanced packaging, the stage where chips are joined together. Chief executive Jekaterina Viktorova said that today's advanced-packaging approaches have real limits on interconnect density, which constrain bandwidth between chips. She said Syenta is enabling finer-pitch connections within existing manufacturing infrastructure.
Origins and location
Syenta was founded in 2020 as a spin-out of research at the Australian National University, according to Converge Digest. Viktorova is the CEO and founder, and no other founders were named in either report. Converge Digest gave its headquarters as Sydney and said it is setting up a presence in Arizona. SiliconANGLE said the company has opened an office in Arizona. Neither report gave a headcount.
What the money is for
Syenta said it will use the funds for commercialisation, expansion in the United States and preparation for high-volume production. SiliconANGLE reported that the company hopes to start volume production of its interconnects in 2028, and that it is working with several chip designers, particularly suppliers of AI chips. Neither report named any customer. SiliconANGLE said the funding is meant to expand production capacity and grow the company's US footprint, and gave no production volumes.
The investors
The National Reconstruction Fund is an Australian government-backed investor. Syenta's website lists it, the ACT Government and the Australian National University among its Australian backers. The reports did not break down how much each lead put into the round, and the figure of more than $36m in total funding comes from the company's announcement as reported by Converge Digest, which did not itemise earlier rounds. Syenta's website describes its product as chip-to-chip interconnects for AI hardware.
Company website: syenta.com