Cognichip
Cognichip is a semiconductor design startup that has raised $93M in Series A funding to develop AI-powered chip design tools. The company employs 91 people, with engineering making up 40% of its workforce.
The growth story
Cognichip grew from 1 to 91 employees between 2024 and 2026, raising $93M along the way, most recently a Series A in April 2026.
About
Cognichip builds AI tools to automate and accelerate semiconductor design, targeting chip manufacturers facing high development costs. Its technology uses physics-informed models specifically adapted for hardware design.
The company has attracted funding from notable investors including Lux Capital and Mayfield Fund since its 2024 founding. With a median tenure of just one year, the workforce appears to be in rapid buildout phase following its recent funding round.
Founders and leadership
Engineering dominates Cognichip's organization, accounting for 37 of 91 employees. The company shows a typical startup structure with tight span of control and no significant management layers yet.
The Cognichip org chart
Faraj Aalaei (Founder & Chief Executive Officer) leads 16 mapped leaders with 5 direct reports. Click +N to expand a team; names link to the person’s public profile.
Departments, and which ones grew
Headcount by function: Engineering 44 (+159% YoY), Research 12 (+200% YoY), Business Development 7 (+75% YoY), Arts and Design 6 (+500% YoY), Human Resources 3 (+50% YoY).
Talent flow
Cognichip recruits heavily from semiconductor veterans, with 7 hires each from Synopsys and Intel. The company also draws from Stanford and University of Waterloo, which together account for 18 of its 76 trackable hires.
Most common previous employers of Cognichip staff: Synopsys (7), Intel (7), Stanford University (5), Meta (3), University of Waterloo (3), Marvell Technology (3). Former Cognichip employees most often moved to Senpilot (1), Maxima (1), University of Waterloo (1), Eigen (1), Broadcom (1), Gigamon (1).
Web traffic
Traffic mix: 40% direct, 51% search, 1% social, 0% paid.
What this company is made of
Most common skills at Cognichip: Python (Programming Language) (47), C++ (34), C (Programming Language) (32), Machine Learning (30), MATLAB (28), Verilog (25), Leadership (21), SQL (21).
Where the team actually sits
Cognichip people are concentrated in California, United States (30), San Francisco Bay Area (17), Ontario, Canada (16), North Carolina, United States (2).
Search footprint
Cognichip attracts about 89 organic search visits a month, traffic worth roughly $0K a month if bought through ads. It gained 3 ranking keywords and lost 4 in the last period.
What employees say
- Compensation
- 4.00 / 5
- Career opportunities
- 5.00 / 5
- Senior management
- 5.00 / 5
- Work-life balance
- 4.00 / 5
Frequently asked
Cognichip has 91 employees as of September 2026.
Cognichip has raised $93M in total, most recently a Series A round in April 2026.
Cognichip was founded in 2024 by Ehsan Kamalinejad, Faraj Aalaei, Simon Sabato.
Faraj Aalaei (Founder & Chief Executive Officer) sits at the top of Cognichip's reporting structure, with 5 direct reports.
The most common previous employers of current Cognichip staff are Synopsys (7 people), Intel (7 people), Stanford University (5 people).
Former Cognichip employees most often move to Senpilot (1), Maxima (1), University of Waterloo (1).
Cognichip attracts about 89 organic search visits a month, worth roughly $0K a month in equivalent ad spend.
The most common skills among Cognichip staff are Python (Programming Language), C++, C (Programming Language), Machine Learning, MATLAB.
Cognichip staff are concentrated in California, United States (30), San Francisco Bay Area (17), Ontario, Canada (16).
Cognichip has about 44 people in Engineering, up 159% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Cognichip has about 12 people in Research, up 200% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Computed from 76 current and 14 former Cognichip profiles, as of September 2026. Source: Crustdata.
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