Who Owns Hailo? Inside Microchip Technology’s Acquisition

Behind the Chip: The Ownership, Rise, and Evolution of Edge AI Pioneer Hailo

When people search for the owner of Hailo, they are usually looking at one of two things: the brilliant minds who dreamed up the groundbreaking Israeli semiconductor company from scratch, or the corporate parent that steers its future today.

The story of Hailo’s ownership is a classic tech-industry journey. It spans from a tight-knit band of elite military tech veterans in Tel Aviv to venture capital backing, unicorn status, and a major corporate acquisition.

1. The Founders: Who Started Hailo?

Hailo was founded in February 2017 in Tel Aviv, Israel, by a group of deep-tech experts sharing a vision to rethink how artificial intelligence is processed on small devices:

• Orr Danon (CEO): An alumnus of the elite technological units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Danon took the helm as Chief Executive Officer, guiding the company’s strategic trajectory from a fledgling startup into a global player.
• Avi Baum (CTO): Serving as Chief Technology Officer, Baum brought extensive engineering expertise and architecture leadership to the table, helping design Hailo’s dataflow-based processors.
• Hadar Zeitlin and Rami Feig: Alongside Danon and Baum, Zeitlin and Feig completed the founding team. (Tragically, Rami Feig passed away during the company’s early years, after which Danon took over the full-time CEO responsibilities).

Coming from elite military intelligence and technology backgrounds, the founders set out to build specialized Edge AI processors—chips designed to run deep learning applications locally on devices (like security cameras, smart cars, and industrial machinery) without needing massive cloud data centers.

2. Venture Capital Backers and “Unicorn” Era

Before any corporate buyout, Hailo was jointly owned by its founders, key executives, and a powerhouse roster of venture capital and strategic institutional investors.

Over several funding rounds—accumulating over $340 million—prominent backers included:

• Zohar Zisapel: The late, legendary Israeli tech entrepreneur and investor who heavily championed Hailo’s early rounds.
• Strategic giants like the NEC Corporation and various automotive heavyweights.
• Venture funds and local groups like OurCrowd, Maniv Mobility, and Poalim Equity.

By 2021, on the back of its flagship Hailo-8 processor, the company smashed past a $1 billion valuation, earning coveted “unicorn” status. It even forged high-profile partnerships, such as powering AI capabilities for the Raspberry Pi 5.

3. The Current Owner: Microchip Technology

As the hardware landscape shifted and market pressures mounted, Hailo entered a new chapter of its corporate evolution.