The lights just got a lot brighter at the edge of the AI universe, and not because of another GPU drop or a new “foundational” model trying to sell you self-awareness. No, this time it’s real tech, actual innovation you can touch, measure, and wire into the future. Avicena Tech just closed a $65 million Series B, led by Tiger Global, with SK hynix, Cerberus Capital Management, Lam Research, Maverick Silicon, and Prosperity7 Ventures backing the play. That puts the total raise at $120 million, which is the kind of runway you don’t get unless you’re building something the hyperscalers are already losing sleep over.
Founded in 2019 by photonics heavyweight Bardia Pezeshki and CTO Rob Kalman, who both cut their teeth in the wild west of optical networking, Avicena is flipping photons into payloads. Their LightBundle™ platform is built on GaN microLEDs and integrated CMOS drivers, delivering over 1Tbps/mm bandwidth density at under 0.5pJ/bit. That’s not evolution, that’s teleportation compared to what’s powering most AI clusters today.
This isn’t some academic flex on power curves. This is commercial traction with teeth: Avicena’s 12mm² chiplet clocks in at 1Tbps bidirectional, already winning designs from two top-five cloud players for 2026 deployment. They’ve got SK hynix tapped in for memory-to-processor interconnects. Corning is in with a 331-core fiber that lights up 10 meters of bandwidth without blowing your latency budget. DSPs? Gone. Latency? Sub-5ns. That’s the difference between real-time AI and real slow inference.
And they’re scaling with purpose. TSMC is optimizing photodetector arrays. ams OSRAM is lined up to pump out a million-plus units per month by 2026. Avicena isn’t just building optical I/O, they’re making it manufacturable. That’s how you go from deep tech to datacenter dominance. No science fair here, just science fiction made viable.
They’ve also built a team that knows what exits look like. Greg Dougherty (ex-Oclaro CEO) is on the board. Chris Pfistner came over from Inphi / Marvell. Sama Pourmojib is leading ops. The headcount tripled since Series A with hires out of Intel, TSMC, and Micron. That’s not a startup, that’s a vanguard.
AI systems are hitting the wall on power and bandwidth, and LightBundle is Avicena’s way of punching through. It’s not about plugging the gaps, it’s about redefining the fabric the system runs on. You want zetta scale? You’d better call someone who speaks in picoseconds.
This isn’t just interconnect. This is insight in motion. Congrats to the whole crew, Bardia Pezeshki, Rob Kalman, and the Avicena team, for proving that when you combine legacy chops with new-world optics, you don’t just move data. You move markets.
Let’s connect and keep the momentum going across the tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a founder shaping the future, a leader driving change, a VC backing bold ideas, or an investor spotting the next big thing—together, we’re pushing boundaries. Proud to be building the future with you.
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