SynSense
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersNingbo, China
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
SynSense firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- SynSense
- Legal name
- Chengdu SynSense Technology Co., Ltd.
- Website
- https://synsense.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
SynSense industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Neuromorphic AI Processors
- NAICS
- Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing (334413)
- SIC
- Semiconductors & Related Devices (3674)
- akta.pro primary industry
- AI/Neural Processing Units (NPUs) & ML Accelerators (HDAHAJAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Compute & Acceleration ICs (CPU/GPU/AI/FPGA/ASIC) (HDAHABAC), Edge AI Hardware & NPUs (SoCs, modules, accelerators) (HDAAAJAC), On-Device Inference Runtimes & SDKs (mobile/embedded) (HDAAAJAB)
Keywords
Where SynSense is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Ningbo
- HQ country
- China
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices4 records
Markets served
SynSense business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Neuromorphic Chips and SoC Sales: Sale of neuromorphic processor chips including Speck (dynamic vision SoC), Xylo (audio/IMU processor), DYNAP-CNN series, and Rigi series for brain-computer interfaces. Revenue from chip sales to enterprise customers and OEM partners.
- Development Kits and Tools: Sale of development kits including Speck Dev Kit, Xylo-Audio Dev Kit, Speck Demo Kit ($199 early bird pricing). Software tools including Samna, Sinabs, Rockpool, and Tonic provided alongside hardware.
- IP Licensing and Technology Transfer: Licensing of neuromorphic technology and patents to partners, including technology developed from 20 years of Swiss academic research.
- Strategic Partnership Development: Joint development partnerships with enterprises in automotive (BMW), smart home, toys (QunYu), industrial robotics, and other sectors with potential for mass production and commercialization.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Speck Demo Kit early bird pricing |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
SynSense product offering
Product offeringCore offering
SynSense designs and manufactures mixed-signal neuromorphic processor chips that integrate event-based dynamic vision sensors with spiking neural network (SNN) processors on a single die, delivering ultra-low power (100-1000x savings vs GPUs) and ultra-low latency (10-100x faster) AI for edge devices. The portfolio spans brain-computer interface chips (Xylo, Rigi), human-computer interaction SoCs (Speck, AEVEON, DVS), companion software tools (Samna, Sinabs, Rockpool, Tonic), and development kits. Revenue is generated primarily through direct chip sales to OEMs and partners, dev kit sales, and IP licensing built on two decades of Swiss neuromorphic research.
Product overview
SynSense (时识科技) is a world-leading neuromorphic intelligence company providing core chips and solutions for next-generation human-machine and brain-computer interfaces. The company operates a 'sensing-computing integration' strategy with four product lines: Brain-Computer Interface Chips (Xylo™, Rigi Series), Human-Computer Interaction Chips (Speck™, AEVEON™, DVS Series), Software Tools (Rockpool, Sinabs, SAMNA, Tonic), and Vision Systems (via acquired subsidiary iniVation). The product portfolio is unified by ultra-low power neuromorphic processing technology inspired by neural processing principles, achieving 100-1000x power reduction and 10-100x latency improvement over traditional AI solutions. Products target edge AI applications including smart vision, auditory processing, autonomous navigation, and health monitoring across consumer electronics, robotics, AR/VR, automotive, and industrial markets.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- iniVation: High-performance vision systems subsidiary of SynSense Group, offering DVS series event-based cameras and bio-inspired vision technology for consumer electronics, robotics, industrial vision, and aerospace.
Products and services
- Speck™ World's first 'sense-compute integrated' dynamic vision intelligent SoC integrating Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) with neuromorphic CNN processor for ultra-low power, always-on vision applications including gesture recognition, face detection, and object tracking.
- Xylo™ Low-dimensional signal neuromorphic processor supporting audio (Xylo-Audio), IMU (Xylo-IMU), and general sensor interfaces for always-on micro-watt level signal processing applications including keyword recognition, scene detection, and event sound judgment.
- Dynap-CNN™ Neuromorphic CNN processor for high-performance visual processing with up to 320,000 spiking neurons, supporting real-time video processing at milliwatt power levels. The DYNAP-CNN2 generation is under development for autonomous systems.
- Dynap-SE2 Mixed-signal neuromorphic processor designed for biomedical signal processing and implantable brain-computer interface applications, demonstrated in intracranial EEG analysis for neurological disease diagnosis.
- AEVEON™ Eye tracking solution for AR/VR applications, developed in partnership with iniVation for low-power gaze detection enabled by neuromorphic sensing and processing.
- DVS Series Dynamic Vision Sensor series for event-based visual sensing with ultra-low latency, extreme dynamic range, and low power consumption, supplied through the iniVation subsidiary.
- Rigi Series Brain-computer interface sensor chips using flexible microelectrodes and high-density electrode arrays for invasive neural signal acquisition and processing.
- iniVation Vision Systems High-performance vision systems offering frame-based and bio-inspired vision technology through the SynSense Group subsidiary iniVation AG, serving consumer electronics, robotics, industrial vision, and aerospace with 800+ global customers.
- Sinabs PyTorch-based open-source library for designing and implementing spiking convolutional neural networks (sCNN), enabling ANN-to-SNN conversion and hardware deployment on SynSense neuromorphic chips.
- SAMNA Custom developer interface and high-performance real-time interaction tool for SynSense neuromorphic chips, with a C++ core and Python bindings for data stream processing.
- Rockpool Neural network development framework for designing and deploying spiking neural networks on SynSense hardware platforms.
- Tonic Open-source benchmark dataset testing tool providing event-driven audio and visual datasets with PyTorch-compatible data processing.
- Speck Demo Kit Entry-level evaluation platform with Speck module, BLE controller, battery, and demo applications for rapid prototyping of brain-inspired vision applications, priced at $199 early bird.
- Speck Development Kit High-performance development platform featuring the upgraded Speck SoC with 128x128 DVS sensor and 320,000 spiking neurons for complex vision applications.
- Xylo-Audio Development Kit Development platform for micro-watt level audio AI applications including keyword recognition, scene detection, and voiceprint identification.
- Xylo IMU HDK Development kit for IMU-based applications targeting smart wearables and industrial monitoring with integrated accelerometer and gyroscope interfaces.
- XyloAudio 3 Third-generation Xylo-Audio neuromorphic chip expanding ultra-low power brain-inspired audio applications.
- Neuromorphic Programmable Robot World's first neuromorphic AI programmable robot developed in partnership with QunYu (群宇互动科技), featuring human body recognition, visual sensing-computing, robot imitation, and human-machine strong interaction enabled by Speck SoC.
- Bridge Displacement Monitoring System Industry's first brain-inspired bridge displacement monitoring system for urban infrastructure intelligent maintenance, launched in cooperation with Tianqiang Company for smart infrastructure applications.
Quantifiable outcome
- Power consumption reduction of 100 to 1000 times compared to traditional GPU-based AI systems
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use SynSense
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments8 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
SynSense technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability9 records
Feature9 records
SynSense partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered strategic and core.
- Kumrah AIstrategicJoint venture between Khalifa University spin-off Kumrah AI and iniVation (SynSense Group) for developing neuromorphic vision-based inspection and autonomy systems targeting MENA region industrial inspection and quality assurance.
- QunYu (群宇互动科技)strategicPartnership with Chinese intelligent programmable toy company QunYu to launch world's first neuromorphic programmable robot at China Shantou International Toy Fair. Strategic agreement signed for neuromorphic interactive building blocks.
- iniVationcoreAcquired Swiss neuromorphic vision sensor company iniVation to build comprehensive neuromorphic platform combining vision sensing with processing solutions. iniVation is now a SynSense Group company.
- EU EdgeAI ConsortiumstrategicSynSense participating in EU EdgeAI alliance spanning 10+ countries with millions of euros in R&D support for edge AI development. Collaboration with European enterprises including IMEC, CEA-LETI, ST Microelectronics, Fraunhofer.
- TEMPO ConsortiumstrategicEU-funded industry consortium for neuromorphic technology where SynSense participates alongside other leading European research institutions and companies.
- SYNCH ProjectstrategicEU H2020 brain-computer project 'A SYnaptically connected brain-silicon Neural Closed-loop Hybrid system' worth €4,149,612.75 over 4 years for brain-silicon hybrid intelligent systems.
- BMWstrategicMercedes-Benz (BMW Group) joined Intel's neuromorphic research community and is exploring SynSense neuromorphic chips for automotive AI applications including in-cabin monitoring and gesture control.
- CETHIK (中电海康)strategicFull-range cooperation in smart security and building intelligence applications using neuromorphic edge AI technology.
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-BionicsstrategicJoint lab partnership for multimodal bio-inspired intelligent sensing devices, neuromorphic chips based on new materials and devices, and implantable brain-machine intelligent devices.
- PropheseestrategicPartnership with Prophesee to develop higher resolution Speck modules for different application markets, combining event cameras with neuromorphic processors.
- NeuroBench InitiativestrategicNeuromorphic benchmark testing initiative launched by SynSense with 60+ global academic and industry partners including Intel, Sony, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Cornell for standardizing neuromorphic evaluation metrics.
- University of Zurich and ETH ZurichstrategicAcademic spin-off foundation with 20 years of research from Swiss institutions. Founding team includes Prof. Giacomo Indiveri from Institute of Neuroinformatics.
Scale indicators15 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights7 records
SynSense competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Ambiq Micro:
- Synaptics: Synaptics offers a broad portfolio of low-power SoCs for IoT, automotive, and edge AI (including Astra). As a much larger incumbent, it competes with SynSense in automotive HMI and always-on sensing design wins.
Direct peers
- BrainChip Holdings: BrainChip commercializes the Akida neuromorphic processor IP/core for ultra-low-power edge AI. It is the closest publicly traded neuromorphic competitor to SynSense's Speck and Xylo, serving similar always-on vision and audio use cases.
- GrAI Matter Labs: GrAI Matter builds sparsity-aware, neuromorphic-inspired AI accelerators for ultra-low-power edge devices. It targets the same always-on sensor processing niche as SynSense's SNN-based chips.
- Innatera Nanosystems: Innatera develops neuromorphic sensor-processor SoCs for always-on edge intelligence in IoT and wearable applications. It is a fabless neuromorphic peer addressing overlapping event-driven vision/audio workloads.
- Prophesee: Prophesee is the leading event-based (DVS) vision sensor company, a stated partner of SynSense for higher-resolution Speck modules. It is the principal sensor-side peer to SynSense's iniVation subsidiary in event-driven vision.
- Hailo: Hailo produces edge AI inference accelerators optimized for low-power vision processing. It competes with SynSense's DYNAP-CNN/Speck for automotive and industrial camera workloads but uses conventional CNN architectures.
- Mythic AI: Mythic develops analog in-memory compute AI processors targeting ultra-low-power edge inference. It addresses the same power-constrained edge AI design point as SynSense's neuromorphic chips but via a different architectural approach.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
SynSense social profiles
Digital presenceSynSense financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
SynSense leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
SynSense subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
SynSense funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds10 records
Investors20 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
SynSense M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about SynSense
What does SynSense do?
SynSense designs and manufactures mixed-signal neuromorphic processor chips that integrate event-based dynamic vision sensors with spiking neural network (SNN) processors on a single die, delivering ultra-low power (100-1000x savings vs GPUs) and ultra-low latency (10-100x faster) AI for edge devices. The portfolio spans brain-computer interface chips (Xylo, Rigi), human-computer interaction SoCs (Speck, AEVEON, DVS), companion software tools (Samna, Sinabs, Rockpool, Tonic), and development kits. Revenue is generated primarily through direct chip sales to OEMs and partners, dev kit sales, and IP licensing built on two decades of Swiss neuromorphic research.
Is SynSense a public or private company?
SynSense is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was SynSense founded?
SynSense was founded in 2017. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is SynSense based?
SynSense is headquartered in Ningbo, China, in the Asia region.
How does SynSense make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Neuromorphic Chips and SoC Sales are the primary driver. The others are development Kits and Tools, IP Licensing and Technology Transfer and strategic Partnership Development.
Who are SynSense's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Ambiq Micro and Synaptics. Direct peers are BrainChip Holdings, GrAI Matter Labs, Innatera Nanosystems, Prophesee, Hailo and Mythic AI.
Does SynSense have an API?
No public API is recorded for SynSense.
What industry is SynSense in?
SynSense's product category is Neuromorphic AI Processors. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAHAJAF, AI/Neural Processing Units (NPUs) & ML Accelerators, with a secondary code of HDAHABAC, Compute & Acceleration ICs (CPU/GPU/AI/FPGA/ASIC). Its NAICS code is 334413 and its SIC code is 3674.