Salience Labs Raises $125M Funding to Replace Electrical Switches With Light for AI Data Centers

Salience Labs, the Oxfordshire-based photonics startup spun out of Oxford and Münster universities, has raised $125 million in Series B funding led by Bullhound Capital, with strategic backing from AMD Ventures and Intel Capital, alongside SBI Group, Hudson River Trading, and the British Business Bank.

The round brings Salience’s total disclosed funding to approximately $166 million, following a $30 million Series A in February 2025 and an $11.5 million seed in May 2022. The company did not disclose its valuation.

The funding comes as Salience prepares to scale its optical circuit switching technology from a demonstrated 64-port switch to 128- and 256-port systems, expand manufacturing with Tower Semiconductor and Keysight Technologies, and establish a second West Coast office in Silicon Valley.

Salience Labs Funding Overview By CREDX Media

Startup Name	Salience Labs
Founders	Vaysh Kewada (CEO), Dr Johannes Feldmann (CTO)
Founded	2021
HQ	Milton, Oxfordshire, UK
Round	Series B Funding
Amount Raised	$125M
Valuation	Not disclosed
Category	Photonics, AI Networking, Optical Circuit Switching
Lead Investor	Bullhound Capital
Strategic Investors	AMD Ventures, Intel Capital
Key Investors	SBI Group, Hudson River Trading, British Business Bank
Returning Investors	Applied Ventures, Oxford Science Enterprises, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Silicon Catalyst Ventures
Total Funding Raised	~$166M
Employees	~63
Key Product	OC-32M, 64-port optical switch
Next Products	128-port, 256-port OCS

💡 Use of Funds

• Volume Manufacturing: Scaling production with Tower Semiconductor for high-volume output .
• Next-Gen Switches: Developing 128- and 256-port optical circuit switches .
• US Expansion: Opening a second West Coast office in Silicon Valley .

Startup Overview: Salience Labs

What Salience Labs Is Building in Simple Words

Salience Labs has developed optical circuit switching technology that routes data between GPUs using light—without converting optical signals back to electricity at every switch. In conventional data center networks, optical signals travel between servers but must be converted to electrical form at each switch to be routed, consuming power and adding latency. Salience’s all-optical switches keep light as light, establishing dedicated paths for data to travel end-to-end .

• All-Optical Switching: Instead of optical-to-electrical-to-optical conversion at every hop, Salience’s switches route light directly, reducing power consumption and latency .
• 64-Port Switch Demonstrated: Salience showed a live 64-port all-optical photonic switch at ECOC 2026, which it calls an industry first for silicon photonics-based OCS .
• Scaling to 128 and 256 Ports: The new funding will develop larger switches capable of connecting thousands of GPUs across multiple racks .
• Built for AI Scale-Up Networks: The technology is purpose-built for connecting GPUs within and across racks—the “scale-up” network that determines how efficiently large AI models can be trained .
• Keysight and Tower Partnerships: Salience is working with Keysight for validation and Tower Semiconductor for manufacturing scale .

Why Salience Labs Matters

1. The GPU Networking Bottleneck Is Real As AI models grow, they must be split across thousands of GPUs that need to communicate constantly. Electrical switches are hitting power and bandwidth limits. CEO Vaysh Kewada frames it directly: “OCS will play a critical role in AI datacenter networking. As customers roll out optical links in their data centers, high-performance optical switches are needed to deliver the token economics workloads demand” .
2. Optical Switching Saves Power and Latency Converting optical signals to electrical and back at every switch consumes significant power and adds milliseconds of latency. Salience’s all-optical architecture eliminates those conversions, reducing both energy waste and delay .
3. The Market Is Massive and Growing Dell’Oro Group forecasts cumulative spending on switches in AI back-end networks to approach $1 trillion from 2026 to 2030, with scale-up networks accounting for more than half by 2030 .
4. Strategic Chipmaker Backing Validates the Category AMD Ventures and Intel Capital both invested, signaling that major chip designers see optical switching as critical infrastructure. As AMD’s Patrick Rundell noted: “AI infrastructure is increasingly being designed at rack scale, where networking has a direct impact on system performance, efficiency and economics” .

Founder Background: The McKinsey Consultant and the Münster Physicist

Vaysh Kewada (CEO) holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in physics from Imperial College London and previously worked at McKinsey & Company before becoming an entrepreneur-in-residence at Oxford Science Enterprises, where she helped bring together research from Oxford and Münster to commercialize photonic technology .

Dr Johannes Feldmann (CTO) is a physicist specializing in photonics who helped develop and test Salience’s early prototype. He earned his PhD in Physics from the University of Münster .

The founding team’s combination—Kewada’s commercial and operational experience, Feldmann’s deep technical expertise—positions Salience to navigate both the business and engineering challenges of scaling photonic manufacturing.

The Optical Switching Race Nobody Expected

Salience operates in a growing field of photonics startups targeting AI infrastructure. Ayar Labs has raised over $200 million for optical interconnects, backed by NVIDIA and Intel. [Lumilens](https://lumilens.com/) left stealth in August 2026 with more than $700 million at a $5.5 billion valuation, already shipping into a hyperscaler’s live data centers .

Salience’s differentiation is its all-optical switching architecture. While Ayar Labs focuses on optical interconnects between chips, Salience targets the switching layer that routes traffic across thousands of GPUs. Its 64-port switch, validated by Keysight, is designed for high-volume manufacturing .

The competitive moat, if it materializes, is integrated silicon photonics plus manufacturing partnerships. Salience’s on-chip solution is designed to scale with Tower Semiconductor’s CMOS processes—critical for reaching the volumes AI data centers require .

Founder Intelligence: What Founders Can Learn from Salience Labs

• Spin out from deep research: Salience was built on over a decade of photonics research from Oxford and Münster. University spinouts with patented IP can attract strategic investors that generic startups cannot.
• Align with chipmakers, not against them: AMD Ventures and Intel Capital both invested. In infrastructure, the chip designers are the ecosystem, not the competition. Integration beats disruption.
• Demonstrate before you scale: Salience showed a live 64-port switch at ECOC 2026 before raising its Series B. In hardware, proof points matter more than projections.
• Manufacturing partnerships are moats: Working with Tower Semiconductor and Keysight for validation and scale is as important as the technology itself. Hardware startups live or die by supply chain execution .

Investor Intelligence: Why This Round Gets Premium Capital

Bullhound Capital led the round, bringing deep European technology investment expertise. The British Business Bank invested £10 million through its direct equity program, with Managing Director Charlotte Lawrence framing the thesis: “Today’s AI data centres are increasingly limited by the efficiency of the networking and unlocking this bottleneck is key to unlocking AI’s ability to cost effectively deliver on its full value” .

AMD Ventures and Intel Capital both participated strategically. Intel Capital’s Srini Ananth noted: “Photonics is quickly becoming essential to scaling AI infrastructure, and optical circuit switching can unlock significant gains in performance and efficiency” .

The investor composition signals conviction: strategic chipmaker backing validates the category, the British Business Bank investment signals government support for UK deep tech, and Bullhound’s leadership provides European venture credibility.

The Road Ahead for Salience Labs

Expansion Targets

With $125 million in capital, Salience will:

• Scale volume manufacturing with Tower Semiconductor .
• Develop 128-port and 256-port optical switches .
• Open a second West Coast office in Silicon Valley .
• Grow its engineering team and customer engagements.

Competitive Response

Expect:

• Ayar Labs and Lumilens to deepen optical interconnect offerings.
• Traditional networking vendors to explore optical switching acquisitions.
• NVIDIA to continue developing its own photonic interconnect roadmap.
• Salience’s moat: all-optical switching architecture + strategic chipmaker backing + manufacturing partnerships.

Conclusion

Salience Labs’ $125 million Series B funding validates the thesis that optical switching is critical infrastructure for AI’s next phase. The company’s 64-port switch demonstration, backing from AMD and Intel, and manufacturing partnerships with Tower Semiconductor and Keysight position it to address the GPU networking bottleneck.

Market tailwinds favor Salience: AI models growing beyond single-GPU capacity, electrical switches hitting power limits, and $1 trillion in projected AI back-end network spending. The company’s all-optical architecture and strategic investor alignment position it to capture this opportunity as optical switching becomes standard in AI data centers.

For deep analysis of photonics funding, AI infrastructure innovation, and companies reshaping data center networking, explore CREDX Media for comprehensive coverage of startup funding trends, valuation intelligence, and founder playbooks.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Salience Labs’ total funding and latest round size?
Salience Labs has raised approximately $166 million total. Its $125 million Series B was led by Bullhound Capital in October 2026 .

2. How much did Salience Labs raise in its Series B round and who led the investment?
Salience raised $125 million led by Bullhound Capital, with AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, SBI Group, Hudson River Trading, and the British Business Bank participating .

3. What is the valuation of Salience Labs?
Salience Labs did not disclose its post-money valuation. The company has raised approximately $166 million in total disclosed funding.

4. Who are the major investors in Salience Labs?
Major investors include Bullhound Capital (lead), AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, SBI Group, Hudson River Trading, British Business Bank, Applied Ventures, Oxford Science Enterprises, Cambridge Innovation Capital, and Silicon Catalyst Ventures .

5. Who are Salience Labs’ founders?
Salience Labs was founded in 2021 by Vaysh Kewada (CEO) and Dr. Johannes Feldmann (CTO). Kewada previously worked at McKinsey; Feldmann holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Münster .

6. What is Salience Labs’ business model?
Salience Labs develops and sells optical circuit switching hardware for AI data center networks. It is moving from evaluation units to volume manufacturing with Tower Semiconductor .

7. How does Salience Labs’ optical switching work?
Salience’s all-optical switches route data between GPUs without converting optical signals to electrical form at every switch. This reduces power consumption and latency compared to conventional electrical switching .

8. What traction justifies Salience Labs’ Series B funding?
Salience demonstrated a live 64-port all-optical photonic switch at ECOC 2026, validated its 32-port version with Keysight, and secured manufacturing partnership with Tower Semiconductor .

9. What are Salience Labs’ plans for the $125 million Series B capital?
Salience will scale volume manufacturing, develop 128- and 256-port switches, and open a second West Coast office in Silicon Valley .

10. What is the market opportunity for optical switching in AI?
Dell’Oro Group forecasts cumulative spending on switches in AI back-end networks to approach $1 trillion from 2026 to 2030, with scale-up networks accounting for more than half by 2030 .

11. Who is the CEO of Salience Labs?
Vaysh Kewada serves as CEO and co-founder. She holds degrees in physics from Imperial College London and previously worked at McKinsey & Company.