Salience Labs Secures $30 Million in Series A Funding Led by Applied Ventures and ICM HPQC Fund
Salience Labs Limited, a pioneering company in photonic solutions designed to enhance connectivity for artificial intelligence (AI) datacenter infrastructure, has successfully closed a $30 million Series A financing round. This round was led by ICM HPQC Fund and Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc. The newly raised capital will be instrumental in advancing the development of Salience Labs’ state-of-the-art optical switches, which are poised to revolutionize large-scale AI connectivity.
Other notable investors participating in this round include Braavos, as well as existing investors such as Oxford Sciences Enterprises, Cambridge Innovation Capital, and prominent figures from the global semiconductor industry, including Silicon Catalyst and Jalal Bagherli. Their continued support underscores the confidence in Salience Labs’ vision and technological capabilities.
Advancing AI Connectivity Through Photonic Innovation
The growing complexity of AI workloads and the increasing demand for data center efficiency necessitate the development of new technologies that can address challenges in bandwidth, latency, and power consumption. Salience Labs is at the forefront of this transformation, leveraging silicon photonics to create innovative optical switching solutions that can seamlessly integrate with existing infrastructure.
“What our customers want is a photonic switch to connect their AI clusters that is compatible with existing infrastructure while delivering high bandwidth, low latency, and significant power savings. The completion of this round will further our development and help us bring our product to customers to enable not just the savings, but large cluster connectivity,” said Vaysh Kewada, Co-founder and CEO of Salience Labs. “We are also excited to be working closely with our strategic investors, who are industry leaders, to advance our go-to-market schedule.”
Industry Leaders Recognize Salience Labs’ Potential
Salience Labs’ innovative approach has garnered praise from leading experts in the industry. Their optical switch technology is expected to drive a paradigm shift in AI data centers by enabling faster, more efficient, and scalable network architectures.
“Silicon photonics is a promising technology to deliver significant advancements in energy-efficient performance for AI data centers,” said Anand Kamannavar, Vice President and Global Head of Applied Ventures. “Salience’s optical switch solution has the potential to enable a new generation of interconnect network architectures for faster and more efficient AI systems.”
Dr. Jalal Bagherli, an investor in Salience Labs and former CEO of Dialog Semiconductor, which was acquired by Renesas, also expressed strong support for the company’s direction. “Salience Labs has done a tremendous job in developing a portfolio of innovative silicon photonics products that address critical needs in the data center and AI infrastructure market,” he stated. “Their customer-focused approach, combined with technology based on over a decade of research, makes Salience Labs a clear leader poised to win in this enormous market.”
Dr. William Jeffrey, Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee on the ICM HPQC Fund and newly appointed Board Member of Salience Labs, emphasized the significance of optical switching technology in AI and high-performance computing. “Salience Labs’ optical switches will enable unprecedented bandwidth and scalability for the next generation of AI and high-performance data centers. By leveraging light, they will unlock the full capability of modern servers while decreasing power consumption and cost. ICM HPQC is excited to work with Vaysh and the Salience team as lead investors in the Series A raise.”
Strategic Leadership Appointments Strengthen Salience Labs’ Growth
Appointment of Dr. William Jeffrey to the Board of Directors
With the closing of the Series A financing, Salience Labs has appointed Dr. William Jeffrey to its Board of Directors. He joins an esteemed group that includes Jack Edmondson, Chief Investment Officer of Oxford Sciences Enterprises, and Daniel Armbrust, Co-founder of Silicon Catalyst, CEO of the SEMATECH semiconductor consortium, and a member of the Industrial Advisory Committee, which advises the Department of Commerce on the R&D strategy for the CHIPS Act.
Dr. Jeffrey is a distinguished figure with an extensive career spanning government, research, and corporate leadership. His background includes serving in the Executive Office of the President of the United States and leading HRL Laboratories—known for groundbreaking innovations such as the invention of the laser, integrated circuits, and liquid crystal displays. He also held the role of Director at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an institution associated with three Nobel Prize laureates and numerous other scientific achievements. Additionally, Dr. Jeffrey was the CEO of SRI International, a nonprofit research institute known for its pioneering advancements in AI and computing.
Dr. Jeffrey holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University. His appointment is expected to bolster Salience Labs’ strategic direction and contribute valuable insights as the company scales its technology.
Appointment of Bonnie Tomei as Chief Financial Officer
In a further move to solidify its leadership team, Salience Labs has announced the appointment of Bonnie Tomei as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Tomei, a certified public accountant and a seasoned industry professional based in Silicon Valley, brings over two decades of financial and operational expertise to the company.
“With over 20 years of experience, including overseeing initial public offerings (IPOs), de-SPAC transactions, and having a strong business operations background, Ms. Tomei will be a key member of the executive team to realize our strategic and operational objectives, including expanding to the U.S. to serve our key customers,” said Ms. Kewada.
Tomei’s experience in navigating financial strategy for high-growth technology firms will be instrumental in guiding Salience Labs through its next phase of expansion and market penetration.
As AI applications continue to push the boundaries of computational power, the need for innovative interconnect solutions has never been more pressing. Salience Labs’ cutting-edge photonic switching technology presents a groundbreaking solution to address the growing demands for high-speed, low-power connectivity in AI and high-performance computing environments.
The successful closure of this Series A round not only underscores the confidence investors have in Salience Labs’ technology but also sets the stage for accelerated product development and commercialization. The company’s focus on scalable, high-bandwidth optical interconnects positions it as a key enabler of the next-generation AI infrastructure.
With the support of industry-leading investors, a strengthened leadership team, and an unwavering commitment to innovation, Salience Labs is poised to redefine the future of AI connectivity and establish itself as a dominant force in silicon photonics. The coming years will be pivotal as the company transitions from development to deployment, driving significant advancements in AI and data center performance.
The impact of Salience Labs’ technology is expected to extend beyond AI clusters, with potential applications in telecommunications, cloud computing, and other data-intensive industries. As organizations increasingly seek energy-efficient solutions to manage growing data loads, optical switching will play a crucial role in shaping the future of computing infrastructure.
With a clear vision, strong financial backing, and an expert team, Salience Labs is well on its way to transforming the landscape of AI connectivity—ushering in a new era of high-speed, energy-efficient data processing that will drive innovation across multiple sectors.
