Over the past two years, we’ve seen our world change in unprecedented ways. From COVID-19 to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the global landscape has been altered from what we knew in 2019. Military spending has reached unmatched levels, the need to spur innovation to remain competitive against China is unwavering, and the global supply chain has proven fragile.
A result of the global supply chain faltering has been a worldwide shortage of semiconductors, which in turn has unearthed a growing market for counterfeit chips. Since the pandemic began, reports of counterfeit chips have surged by 57% across 40 countries. NASA estimates it could pose a $200 billion risk per year to the global electronics supply chain. While many across the world may not realize the impact and importance of ensuring security in semiconductor procurement – without it everything from cars to critical infrastructure to military defense technology can be compromised – our very own Associate and U.S. Navy veteran Stephen DiBartolomeo kept that top of mind.
Huge congratulations to Stephen for officially launching Chiplytics, a hardware security company building inspection technology that provides insights into the microelectronics supply chain, incubated out of Scout. The company was co-founded by DiBartolomeo, Steven Dourmashkin (CEO) and Matthew Skeels (CTO), both Cornell engineers and entrepreneurs working on their second startup together.
Chiplytics’ proprietary technology, the Chiplytics One, screens every chip going into critical systems to fight counterfeiting, which can range from sophisticated clones to chips facing quality issues. This helps ensure the safety and compliance of semiconductors worldwide, allowing commerce and exchange to function securely around the globe. The company plans to leverage data sets and their proprietary software to help companies source and test chips before they get put into high-reliability systems, saving them from costly recalls or failure and building trust within the public and private sectors.
The team built and launched Chiplytics through a collaboration with the National Nuclear Security Administration and Sandia National Labs, where the part of the technology was originally invented. Scout Ventures incubated Chiplytics through a $300k Seed round, with an additional $50k of non-dilutive funding sourced through Sandia and the U.S. Army. We were honored to guide Chiplytics’ development after the foundational technology was sourced through Sandia National Labs, a common framework of growth for companies developed within our incubation program.
Now more than ever, it’s essential to ensure the safety of our people extends beyond physical security, but technologically as well. Chiplytics is a prime example of the kind of technology we at Scout take pride in investing in – tech built by founders who are too often overlooked that genuinely address the day’s most pressing challenges while pushing America to the forefront of innovation.
Those interested in learning more should reach out to Scout or directly through the company's webisite. We are currently looking to connect with companies having difficulty sourcing chips or companies looking to add an additional level of testing to their inspection practice.
