Deeptech startup LightSpeed Photonics has raised $6.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by pi Ventures. The round also saw participation from angel investors, including 500 Global, Indian Accelerator, and returning backers 8X Ventures, Java Capital, and several Bay Area angels.
The company said the funds will be used to establish an R&D center to accelerate pilot testing. The investment will also help LightSpeed Photonics work more closely with OEM, EMS, and ODM partners as it prepares to launch its products through pilot projects in next-generation data-center infrastructure.
“Our mission is to break through the data bottlenecks that limit the scale of AI and advanced computing,” said Rohin Y, Founder and CEO, LightSpeed Photonics.
“AI workloads are driving exponential data growth, and existing interconnect solutions simply cannot keep up. Our technology bridges that gap by enabling faster, denser and more energy efficient data links without requiring costly system redesigns. This funding allows us to accelerate time to market and scale our collaborations with partners worldwide.”
Manish Singhal, Founding Partner at pi Ventures, said, “LightSpeed’s high speed optical interconnect product family is engineered to address a major hurdle of data movement in large-scale AI and cloud computing, by delivering significantly faster data transfer and at the same time drastically reducing energy consumption. Their innovation allows system upgrades without redesigning entire architectures – a game-changer for hyperscale data infrastructure. We’re excited to back a deep tech team that’s solving a global-scale infrastructure challenge from India.”
Founded in 2021 by Rohin Y and Ramana Pamidighantam, LightSpeed Photonics is developing compact, energy-efficient optical interconnects designed to boost data transfer speeds in AI and high-performance computing systems.
The company says its short-wavelength laser technology can deliver faster speeds, lower power consumption, and smaller hardware, with potential uses in AI, HPC, edge computing, telecom, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing.
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