Hardware startup SiliXon raises £1.1m led by System.One with participation from Antler
This article covers SiliXon, a UK-based hardware startup, which has raised £1.1m in a seed funding round led by System.One with participation from Helloworld.vc and Antler. The funding will be used to expand the team and accelerate development of its PCB-focused circuit design software, which aims to reduce manual PCB design work and support hardware engineers and startups.
SiliXon, a UK-based hardware startup, has raised £1.1m in a seed funding round led by System.One, with participation from Helloworld.vc and Antler. The capital will be used to expand the team and accelerate development of its PCB-focused circuit design software, which the founders say aims to cut the manual work that slows hardware development; an open beta is scheduled for the end of this month.
Why it matters
Designing printed circuit boards remains a labour-intensive bottleneck in many hardware projects, from robotics to energy systems. SiliXon’s product targets that gap by automating component selection and board layout tasks that engineers currently spend hours on. With the global PCB market estimated at about $78bn and forecast to approach $130bn by 2034, tools that shorten time-to-prototype could influence downstream manufacturing and product cycles.
The funding also signals investor interest in tooling that brings AI and automation into hardware workflows. For founders building physical products, faster design iterations can reduce costs and speed market entry, an outcome that matters for UK hardware startups seeking to compete internationally.
Inside the product
SiliXon is building software intended to generate electronic board designs in minutes rather than days. The platform focuses on printed circuit board design and, according to the founders, integrates assistance for finding compatible components, parsing datasheets, and assembling subsystems—workflows that they say have changed little for decades.
The team plans to use the new capital to hire engineers and accelerate development ahead of an open beta launch at the end of the month. The founders describe the work as combining software engineering, data science and agentic AI techniques to reduce repetitive manual tasks in CAD-style environments.
Who are the investors?
The round was led by System.One, with participation from Helloworld.vc and Antler. Total disclosed funding is £1.1m.
System.One is identified as the lead backer on the round, while Antler and Helloworld.vc participated alongside it. The deal reflects continued interest from hardware investors in startups that apply AI and automation to traditionally manual engineering workflows. The funding gives SiliXon runway to build product features and run the planned open beta, a typical milestone investors look for at this stage.
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Founder perspective
SiliXon was founded in 2024 by Mihai Mesteru and Bach Nguyen after they met during postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge. Mesteru has a background in hardware and electrical engineering, while Nguyen brings experience in software engineering, data science and agentic AI development.
In the announcement, Mihai Mesteru, Co-founder at SiliXon, said:
The idea started off as a passion project. I remember being frustrated with the software I was using while in the industry. It was too manual, and it took longer than needed to get anything done. The idea started off as simply a nicer-looking program to design circuits. Hundreds of calls later, we found that engineers are already trying to adopt AI to read through datasheets and suggest components. Their design software lives in the past. It’s time to change that.
The founders opted for entrepreneurship over academic careers, positioning the company as a practical response to recurring industry pain points rather than a purely academic exercise.
The bigger picture
SiliXon joins a wave of UK hardware-focused startups seeking to modernise engineering toolchains with software and AI. Cambridge continues to be a fertile source of deep-technology spinouts, and this funding follows broader interest in infrastructure that supports physical-product development rather than only consumer-facing apps.
For the UK and European hardware ecosystem, better design tools can help bridge the gap between digital innovation and manufacturing capacity, making it easier for nascent companies to move from prototype to production. SiliXon’s seed round is a small but relevant data point in that longer transition.
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