Team StartupCity

• LightSpeed Photonics raises $6.5M in a pre-Series A round led by pi Ventures to advance its optical interconnect technology for AI and HPC data centers.
• The deeptech startup will set up an R&D facility, accelerate pilot projects, and strengthen collaborations with OEM, EMS, and ODM partners for commercialization.
• Founded in 2021, the company is building compact, energy-efficient optical interconnects to tackle global AI data-movement bottlenecks with higher speeds and lower power consumption.

LightSpeed Photonics is a deeptech startup that is working on optical interconnect technology for data centres to support AI and high-performance computing. The company has secured $6.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by pi Ventures.

The round also saw participation from 500 Global, Indian Accelerator, and returning investors 8X Ventures, Java Capital, and several Bay Area angels. To date, the company has raised about $8.5 million, including grants.

The company said it would be establishing an R&D facility to speed up pilot turnaround. The fresh round will also support its collaborations with OEM, EMS, and ODM partners as it moves toward commercialising its product line through pilot projects in emerging data-center infrastructure.

Founded in 2021 by Rohin Y and Ramana Pamidighantam, LightSpeed Photonics is developing compact, energy-efficient optical interconnects intended to improve data movement in AI and high-performance computing systems. The company says its short-wavelength laser technology can offer higher speeds, lower power use, and a smaller hardware footprint, with potential applications across AI, HPC, edge computing, telecommunications, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing.

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"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, 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 solve a major bottleneck of data movement in large-scale AI and cloud computing by delivering significantly faster data transfer while 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".