Enlightra raises $15M to advance energy-efficient laser links

Enlightra, a Swiss-American deeptech startup building chip-scale multiwavelength lasers for next-generation data transmission, has announced it has raised a total of USD 15 million in funding to tackle a key bottleneck in AI infrastructure: fast and energy efficient data transfer.

Enlightra’s laser technology replaces copper wiring with compact ultra-high bandwidth optical links that move data faster while consuming much less power, the startup said. 

The funding has enabled Enlightra to develop and demonstrate its multi-color laser technology, which connects computing chips (GPUs, TPUs) in AI clusters faster and more efficiently than copper cables can. The company’s investors include Y Combinator, Runa Capital, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Protocol Labs, Halo Labs, Asymmetry Ventures and TRAC VC, among others.

“The world’s AI infrastructure is hitting the limits of copper,” said Maxim Karpov, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Enlightra. “Our lasers unlock a new level of energy-efficient connectivity by turning light into the backbone of GPU communication.”

Enlightra’s multi-color laser technology replaces dozens of discrete lasers with a single integrated source to cut power, cost, and footprint. Each color functions as an independent data channel, creating dozens of high-bandwidth connections from one laser source, the company said.

“Using more colors is the only way to fully utilize the capacity of modern optical fiber networks,” said John Jost, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Enlightra. “Our technology enables AI clusters and data centers to scale efficiently by separating performance growth from energy and the cost increases.”

“AI is driving an optical revolution,” said Dmitry Galperin, General Partner at Runa Capital. “Enlightra’s multiwavelength lasers are a foundational technology for the next decade of high-performance computing, bringing the efficiency and scalability the industry urgently needs.”