Ayar Labs, Latest Optical Interconnect Startup To Raise Big, Hits Unicorn Status

Ayar Labs locked up a $155 million Series D led by Advent International and Light Street Capital at a valuation of more than $1 billion, and became just the latest optical interconnect to land big money.

The new round included participation from a number of strategics, including AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, Nvidia, 3M New Ventures and Autopilot. Existing investors such as Applied Ventures LLC, Axial Partners, Boardman Bay Capital Management, GlobalFoundries, IAG Capital Partners, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Playground Global and VentureTech Alliance also took part.

Ayar’s optical solutions to transmit data replace older electrical solutions to help users maximize compute efficiency and performance for artificial intelligence infrastructure while also reducing costs and power consumption.

Founded in 2015, Ayar has raised $370 million, per the company.

Big money in optical interconnects

Ayar is just the latest optical interconnect startup trying to solve AI’s bottlenecks concerning compute and power usage.

In October, Lightmatter locked up a $400 million Series D led by new investor T. Rowe Price at a $4.4 billion valuation. The round nearly quadrupled its previous valuation of $1.2 billion in December after a $155 million raise led by GV — which along with Fidelity also participated in the new round.

That same week, Xscape Photonics — a New York-based startup also using photonics technology to address the energy, performance and scalability challenges of AI data centers — raised a $44 million Series A led by IAG Capital Partners and with investment from the likes of Cisco Investments and Nvidia.