Simantic, a hardware simulation startup founded by two Waterloo Engineering students, has raised roughly $600,000 USD and won spots in both the Velocity incubator and Y Combinator's Fall 2026 cohort.
Seungmin Hong (BASc '26) launched Simantic in 2025 with Ahnaf Shahriar (BASc in progress) joining as a co-founder in 2026. The company builds simulation technology that lets engineers and AI systems build, test and validate firmware in virtual environments before physical hardware exists.
The idea fort Simantic grew out of Hong and Shahriar’s co-op terms at Tesla, Neuralink and other hardware-focused organizations, where they repeatedly hit the same bottleneck: engineers waiting weeks or months for physical hardware before they could fully test firmware and embedded systems. That challenge spans automotive, robotics, consumer electronics and semiconductor development.
"Today, AI can already help write hardware and firmware code, but testing remains largely manual and dependent on physical devices," Hong says. "We're building the infrastructure that lets engineers and AI validate those systems in simulation before hardware is ever manufactured."
Velocity played a key early role. Before joining the incubator, Hong took part in Velocity's Cornerstone program, gathering customer insights and earning recognition as one of its top students. The founders credit Waterloo's co-op program, technical talent and startup community—along with Velocity, Akatos and Builders' Club—for helping them move from idea to venture-backed startup in under a year.
Simantic is now focused on expanding its platform, supporting customers and accelerating product development.
Go to Simantic scales from Waterloo startup to global AI hardware innovator for the full story.