# ModelCat AI

> ModelCat AI, formerly the low-power chip pioneer Eta Compute, builds an agentic, hardware-aware platform that automatically designs, trains, optimizes and validates machine-learning models for embedded, edge and IoT devices. Its patented AI-in-the-Loop workflow, backed by a physical hardware farm that calibrates results against real silicon, compresses a model-development cycle that once took 12 to 24 months down to a matter of days. The Sunnyvale company works with chipmakers including NXP and Alif Semiconductor to hand developers ready-to-run models tuned to the exact constraints of the hardware they will run on.

- **Founded:** 2015
- **Headquarters:** Sunnyvale, California, United States
- **Founders:** Evan Petridis (CEO (current)), Gopal Raghavan (Co-founder, Eta Compute (2015)), Tim Semones (Co-founder, Eta Compute (2015)), Paul Washkewicz (Co-founder, Eta Compute (2015))
- **Team size:** ~13 employees
- **Products:** ModelCat AI-in-the-Loop Platform, Hardware Farm, eIQ Model Creator (powered by ModelCat), TENSAI / Aptos (as Eta Compute)
- **Notable:** Rebranded from Eta Compute to ModelCat in August 2025 with a new agentic model-builder platform., As Eta Compute, developed TENSAI, marketed as one of the world's lowest-energy AI microcontrollers., Partnered with NXP to power its eIQ Model Creator tool across NXP's device portfolio.

## Products & services

- **ModelCat AI-in-the-Loop Platform** — A patented, agentic, hardware-aware model builder that automates model architecture selection, training, optimization and validation in a single step, delivering production-ready models for embedded, edge and IoT devices in 0-3 days.
- **Hardware Farm** — A farm of real target chips the platform's AI continually calibrates against, so model performance, memory use and power draw are measured on physical silicon rather than estimated.
- **eIQ Model Creator (powered by ModelCat)** — A model-building tool built with NXP Semiconductors, optimized for NXP i.MX applications processors and microcontrollers, cutting development cycles from 12-24 months to a few days.
- **TENSAI / Aptos (as Eta Compute)** — Predecessor technology: the TENSAI low-power AI microcontroller and Aptos, a no-code cloud platform for edge machine learning.

## Achievements

- Rebranded from Eta Compute to ModelCat in August 2025 with a new agentic model-builder platform.
- As Eta Compute, developed TENSAI, marketed as one of the world's lowest-energy AI microcontrollers.
- Partnered with NXP to power its eIQ Model Creator tool across NXP's device portfolio.
- Partnered with Alif Semiconductor to onboard ML models onto Ensemble MCUs in under 30 days.
- Claims production-ready models delivered hundreds of times faster than traditional approaches.

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Announced strategic partnership with Alif Semiconductor for rapid ML model onboarding onto Ensemble MCUs in under 30 days.
- **2025-09** — Launched eIQ Model Creator powered by ModelCat with NXP Semiconductors for i.MX processors and microcontrollers.
- **2025-08** — Eta Compute rebranded as ModelCat, unveiling a new identity, mission and agentic AI-in-the-Loop model builder.

## Links

- Website: https://modelcat.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/modelcat-ai
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/ModelCat_ai
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ModelCat.OnDeviceAI

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/modelcat-ai
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-11