Optical Networking Startup Oriole Networks Raises $22M

Oriole Networks, a spinout of University College London focused on networked photonic AI chips, raised $22 million in a Series A funding round to accelerate the company’s fast pace of growth, expand its workforce, and engage with high volume suppliers. The company expects to deliver early-stage products to customers by next year.

The company's optical technology creates networks of AI chips and combines their processing power to train large language models, up to 100× faster at a fraction of the power required by traditional methods. The platform is based on 20 years of research work conducted at University College London by founding scientists George Zervas, Alessandro Ottino, and Joshua Benjamin.

The company, founded in 2023 and led by former EFFECT Photonics CEO James Regan, raised a $13 million seed round earlier this year. The current funding was led by Plural, with all existing investors returning. As part of the current financing, Ian Hogarth, who led the investment on behalf of Plural, will join Oriole’s board of directors.