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MicroLED interconnect developer Avicena raises $65M in Series B Funding

15 May 2025

To support development of low power optical interconnects for AI data centers and memory fabrics.

Avicena, a Sunnyvale, CA-based developer of ultra-low power high-density microLED-based interconnects, has announced that it has raised $65 million in Series B Funding, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $120 million.

The round was led by Tiger Global with participation from new and existing investors including Maverick Silicon, Prosperity7 Ventures, Venture Tech Alliance, SK Hynix, Cerberus Capital Management, Hitachi Ventures and Lam Research.

“This oversubscribed funding round shows that Avicena is in a leading position to disrupt the AI interconnect market, and reflects the magnitude of business opportunity before us,” said Bardia Pezeshki, Founder and CEO of Avicena.

Funding ‘to ramp first product into production’

“We will use the new funds to further scale our team and ramp our first product into production. Our LightBundle microLED-based interconnects provide superior bandwidth density, energy efficiency, reliability and cost compared to all other optical interconnect technologies.”

LightBundle technology is based on arrays of GaN microLEDs that leverage the large display ecosystem and can be integrated directly onto any high-performance CMOS IC. The microLED transmit arrays are coupled into multi-fiber cables which connect to matching arrays of integrated silicon detectors, enabling optical interconnects which provide superior performance, compared to laser-based solutions, Avicena claims.

“Avicena’s technology has transformative potential for improving the bandwidth and reducing the power consumption of AI computing systems,” said Rohit Iragavarapu, Partner at Tiger Global. “We are excited to be investing behind them and their vision for a better AI interconnect.”

Rene Do, Senior Director, Venture Investment, SK Hynix, said, “Since high-speed electrical interconnects have fundamental reach limitations, and laser-based optical links are too power hungry, microLED-based interconnects like LightBundle represent a promising solution for low power links in future memory fabrics.”

Abhishek Shukla, Managing Director at Prosperity7 Ventures, added, “Avicena is well positioned to deliver superior next generation interconnects for AI supercomputers and datacenters which will help to unlock the next era of AI innovation at scale in a sustainable way. We are pleased to back the Avicena team on the next leg of their journey.”

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