RapidMind

About RapidMind

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, RapidMind Inc. was established in 2004 by Michael McCool and Stefanus Du Toit. The company originated from academic research connected to the Sh project at the University of Waterloo, where McCool was an Associate Professor and the original designer of the Sh language, and Du Toit was a graduate student and lead developer. RapidMind specialized in providing a software development platform designed to simplify the process for developers to create applications for multi-core processors and graphics processing units (GPUs).

The company's core offering was the RapidMind Multi-core Development Platform. This platform functioned as a set of C++ libraries, enabling developers to write code once and run it in parallel across various processors, including multi-core x86 processors, GPUs (via OpenCL), and the Cell BE. The primary programming model was data parallel, which allowed software to scale with an increasing number of processor cores without requiring programmers to use complex, architecture-specific tools. This approach was designed to lower development costs and risks for software vendors. The business model centered on selling this platform to software organizations in high-performance computing and enterprise markets.

RapidMind's journey included significant financial milestones, securing a seed round in early 2006, followed by a Series A funding of $10 million in April 2007, led by Ventures West Capital with participation from EdgeStone Capital Partners and BDC Venture Capital. The firm's trajectory culminated in its acquisition by Intel on August 19, 2009. Following the acquisition, the RapidMind team and its technology were integrated into Intel's projects, with the founders, McCool and Du Toit, joining the tech giant. The technology was assimilated into Intel's Ct research project, eventually leading to the introduction of Intel Array Building Blocks in September 2010.