SixSense just raised $8.5M Series A to bring real-time AI to chip defect detection. The Singapore-based startup targets semiconductor fabs, turning raw production data into instant insights to catch defects before they hit yield.
Founded in 2018 by Akanksha Jagwani (CTO) and Avni Agarwal (CEO), SixSense tackles a huge blind spot: fabs generate tons of data but mostly just display it. Engineers still rely on manual pattern spotting, which slows things down and doesn’t scale.
SixSense’s platform alerts process engineers early using AI for defect detection, failure prediction, and root cause analysis — no coding required. Engineers can fine-tune models with their fab data and deploy in under two days. 
The funding round was led by Peak XV’s Surge (formerly Sequoia India & SEA) with Alpha Intelligence Capital, FEBE, and others, bringing total to about $12M.
Major chipmakers like GlobalFoundries and JCET already use SixSense. The platform has processed 100M+ chips. Customers report 30% faster production cycles, a 1-2% boost in yield, and 90% less manual inspection.
“The burden of using it for decision-making still falls on engineers: [they must] spot patterns, investigate anomalies, and trace root causes. That’s time-consuming, subjective, and doesn’t scale well with increasing process complexity.”
Avni Agarwal, CEO of SixSense
The startup is expanding beyond Asia to U.S. fabs, riding the wave of new chip manufacturing investments triggered by geopolitical shifts. Their system works with equipment covering 60%+ of the global market, aiming for large foundries, OSATs, and IDMs.
“We’re seeing fabs and OSATs expand aggressively in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, India, and the U.S. — and that’s a tailwind for us. Why? Because we’re already based in the region, and many of these new facilities are starting fresh — without legacy systems weighing them down. That makes them far more open to AI-native approaches like ours from day one.”
Avni Agarwal, CEO of SixSense
SixSense stacks up against Cognex, Halcon, and startups like Landing.ai and Robovision. But their no-code, fast deployment approach is a key differentiator in semiconductor’s slow-to-digitize scene.
Image Credits: SixSense
