Ex-Aruba CTO Unveils Optical Startup Armed with $900M to Scale AI Interconnectivity Lumilens, an optical data center connectivity startup founded by Ankur Singla, a former Aruba CTO and former Cisco and F5 executive, has emerged from stealth mode with more than $900 million in total funding and a $5.5 billion valuation. The company, backed by investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Atreides Management, and Qualcomm Ventures, aims to revolutionize AI infrastructure by replacing copper cables with optical interconnects. Singla, who previously co-founded the Juniper-acquired firm Contrail Systems, emphasized that Lumilens is designed to meet the demands of the AI buildout by manufacturing interconnect technologies at scale, quality, and speed. The startup’s focus lies in developing full data center connectivity solutions, including near-package and co-packaged optics (NPO/CPO) for scale-up networking and optical modules for scale-out applications. According to Lumilens, its initial scale-out product has completed qualification and is already shipping into live AI data centers operated by an unnamed hyperscale customer. Singla highlighted that the primary bottleneck in AI development has shifted from the availability of GPUs to their connectivity, noting that hyperscalers require both increased optical capacity for existing networks and a way to directly link thousands of GPUs into a single cluster. Navin Chaddha, managing partner at Mayfield, praised Lumilens’ rapid execution, stating that the startup’s ability to achieve a $5.5 billion valuation and secure multibillion-dollar orders within two years is unprecedented in the firm’s 56-year history.#lumilens #bain_capital_ventures #ankur_singla #atreides_management #qualcomm_ventures
