Itera’s ‘first of its kind’ fluid circuit board is said to rewire itself in seconds, greatly reducing the time needed to test and iterate physical PCB designs.
SAN FRANCISCO—In May, deep tech startup Itera emerged from stealth with a prototype of what the company called “the world’s first fluid circuit board,” one that reportedly enables engineers to test and modify electronic designs using real components in real time.
In a release announcing its prototype, Itera also stated that it raised $12 million in seed funding to launch its first product and bring it to market. Participating investors include Upfront Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, and Colle Capital.
Itera’s stated mission is to bring software-speed iteration to hardware development, transforming months of waiting into moments of discovery and accelerating the pace of electronic innovation. The company said it enables engineers to test real hardware changes in seconds, instead of weeks, through breakthrough fluid circuit technology. Its technology uses liquid metal substrates that can be modified in less than 60 seconds, while providing “complete circuit visibility” that is said to be impossible with traditional prototypes.
According to Itera, traditional printed circuit board (PCB) prototyping cycles force engineers to wait two to six weeks per design iteration, costing hundreds of thousands to millions in burn for a single hardware team and contributing to an estimated $50 billion of direct spending on electronics development annually. Itera’s patented technology is reported to eliminate this bottleneck by using a novel architecture of glass and liquid metal, allowing circuit rewiring in less than a minute.
“Software developers have been able to write code, test, and iterate in real time for decades. Itera makes real-time design and iteration possible for hardware, too,” said Itera CEO and co-founder A.J. Cooper, in the release. “Hardware has always been hard because it is permanent. Changing it requires time and money. Itera is making hardware easy. For the first time ever, an engineer can change a circuit and test it again before their coffee gets cold.”
The release stated that unlike simulation software, which cannot replicate real-world component behavior, Itera’s fluid circuit board comprises actual components with real electrical behavior. More important, engineers can probe any internal circuit node, not just exposed test points, offering signal visibility that traditional PCB prototypes don’t. The end product: iteration cycles that are up to 1,000 times faster, compressing months of development into days, according to Itera.
Itera operates through an electronics-as-a-service model: Customers’ designs are assembled using their actual components on Itera’s multilayer substrates at secure, U.S.-based testing centers. Customers change and test their hardware and software from anywhere until they have a validated design ready to go to manufacturing.
“Itera is uniquely positioned as the only source of actual electronic performance data, allowing companies to build better products faster with greater confidence,” the release said.
Amid growing government and enterprise focus on domestic manufacturing and ongoing supply chain disruptions, Itera is reported to be well-equipped to meet the testing and development needs of reshoring initiatives and data sovereignty.
“I’ve worked with hardware companies for 15 years, and there have been almost no innovations in how to massively reduce the time to test and iterate physical PCB designs,” said Mark Suster, managing partner at Upfront Ventures, in the release. “Itera brings an AWS-like solution to testing hardware, and this can dramatically lower costs for startups and incumbents alike.”
According to Itera, its initial production capacity is “already reserved by a top 5 global automotive OEM and defense neo primes.” In addition, a leading hyperscaler and multiple chipset manufacturers are said to be actively evaluating the technology with hands-on demonstrations.