PicoJool, a Palo Alto, California-based company developing optical connectivity technology for AI infrastructure, has raised $27.5 million in Series A funding to expand its products for hyperscale AI data centers.
The round was led by Socratic Partners, with participation from Hudson River Trading (HRT). The new funding follows a $12 million seed round led by Playground Global, bringing PicoJool’s total funding to $39.5 million.
PicoJool will use the funding to expand its teams and facilities in the United States and Taiwan. The company plans to grow its research and development, operations, sales and marketing teams as it prepares to bring its VCSEL and optical link products to market.
“Reaching 200G per lane proved that the performance is there. Our focus now is execution,” said Al Yuen, founder and CEO of PicoJool. “This funding allows us to expand our teams in the U.S. and Taiwan, qualify products with customers and move a complete portfolio from chip-level VCSELs and microVCSELs into AOC and NPO modules. We are building the connectivity platform customers will need for the next decade of AI infrastructure.”
The company is developing Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) and microVCSEL technologies designed to help AI data centers handle the growing amount of data moving between processors.
“Moving data efficiently dictates how quickly and economically AI scales,” said Greg Waters, General Partner at Socratic Partners. “PicoJool combines a proven team with a unique approach that brings VCSEL technology’s cost and manufacturing advantages to AI-scale bandwidth and power needs. They are poised to become a vital connectivity platform for next-generation data centers.”
PicoJool’s optical connectivity products are designed to scale from 800G to 1.6T, 3.2T and beyond. Its portfolio includes high-speed 100G and 200G VCSEL products, along with lower-power microVCSEL configurations for AI and data center applications.
The company has also started early sampling of its chip-level VCSEL products and is working with WIN Semiconductor and other gallium arsenide foundries to prepare its 200G VCSEL products for production.
Founded by photonics industry veteran Al Yuen, PicoJool is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with research and operations across the US and Taiwan. The company is working with system companies and hyperscalers on next-generation pluggable, near-package optics and co-packaged optics solutions.
