Vinci, the AI software company based in Palo Alto that simulates physics for use in chip and hardware design, has raised $250M at a $1.5bn valuation, the company announced on Tuesday.

Advent, Temasek and Xora Innovation led the round, while earlier investors Eclipse and Khosla Ventures participated again, along with Madrona, the company stated.

Vinci’s software can predict the physical behaviour of a design before it is constructed.

The company originally focused on heat, since this has become an increasing issue as AI chips grow in size and complexity, and is now aiming to simulate entire systems.

The company intends to later include other areas of physics, for example, vibration testing and electromagnetics.

This will put the 70-person company in competition with established chip design software companies such as Cadence and Synopsys, which offer their own AI-based simulation tools.

The funds will be used to pay for computing power, hire new staff, and produce more simulation products, the chief executive, Hardik Kabaria, stated, adding that the current focus is on growth.

“It is a foundation model that is proven to work in the field,” Kabaria told Reuters.

He said that the next stage is to increase the number of pilot deployments with customers from two to 20.

The round took place less than a year after Vinci had emerged from stealth. In December 2025, the company announced a $46M raise consisting of a seed round led by Eclipse and a Series A round led by Xora, a venture firm that is backed by Temasek.

Kabaria was set up in 2023 by Sarah Osentoski, its chief technology officer. Vinci states that its model runs simulations up to 1,000 times faster than conventional tools without any loss of accuracy, a claim that has not been independently verified.

In February, the company introduced a second type of simulation, this one used to predict how chip packages bend and warp when they heat up.

In other parts of the engineering software sector, Schneider Electric agreed this week to purchase PTC, a company that makes product design tools, for $22.6 billion.