Photo: Oso Semiconductor

Oso Semiconductor closed a $5.2 million seed funding round to fund development of phased array chipsets for satellite communications, 5G, and radar systems, the company announced Feb. 12. Founded in 2022 and spun out of the University of California, Berkeley, Oso Semiconductor is focused on building chipsets for next-gen wireless communication and sensing applications.

Engine Ventures led the round, with Entrada Ventures, Berkeley SkyDeck and J-Ventures also participating. The funding will be used to develop pre-production beamforming chipsets and evaluation systems. 

Phased arrays with electrically steerable antennas (ESAs) provide technical capabilities, directing concentrated radio beams. They enhance bandwidth and signal quality, improving wireless communication data transmission and enabling radar to track multiple targets. 

“One of the biggest challenges for the satcom market is the high cost of ESAs,” said Dr. Matthew Anderson, founder and CEO of Oso Semiconductor. “Our novel chip design will enable products to provide up to 4x improvement in efficiency compared to existing ESAs, and allow manufacturers and integrated satellite operators to put more antennas on an access point while consuming less power.”

Oso Semiconductor said its beamforming circuit technology reduces losses. Influenced by Anderson’s work at UC Berkeley, the company developed algorithmic approaches to phase shifting and combining, allowing for simplified chip designs with fewer amplifiers. Oso Semiconductor’s patent-pending beamformers feature the company’s Combiner-First architecture.