Ottawa-based Hyperlume, a 2023 graduate of SOSV’s HAX program, has secured a $12.5 million seed funding round to advance its innovative optical interconnect solutions for AI data centers and high-performance computing systems. The round was led by BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund and ArcTern Ventures, with participation from MUUS Climate Partners, Intel Capital, and SOSV 

Hyperlume’s groundbreaking technology addresses critical bottlenecks in chip-to-chip communication by replacing traditional copper interconnects with ultra-fast microLED-based optical solutions. This advancement significantly enhances data transfer speeds, reduces latency, and improves energy efficiency, meeting the escalating demands of AI workloads and accelerated computing environments. 

The company was founded in 2022 by CEO Mohsen Asad and CTO Hossein Fariborzi who combined their expertise in electrical engineering and low-power circuit design.

As noted in the TechCrunch article about the funding, “Energy consumption and latency have always been problems for chip-to-chip communication in data centers, Asad said, but they’ve been exacerbated by the rise — and breakneck pace — of AI. Solving the latency issue, or data delay, will not only speed up existing links between chips but also unlock chip capacity that wasn’t previously accessible due to the latency bottlenecks, Asad added.

“If we can solve this latency issue practically, we make [chips] work faster together,” Asad said. “When you have large language models […] you need the chips to communicate with almost zero latency.”