Oriole Networks solves AI’s biggest problems – speed, latency and sustainability – by creating networks of AI chips using advanced photonic technology
Its tech is built on 20 years of optical networking and machine learning IP developed at UCL, with the startup raising $35M in its first year
Series A round will be used to accelerate fast pace of growth, expanding the team and engaging with high-volume suppliers
LONDON, October 21, 2024: Oriole Networks - the company using light to train Large Language Models with a fraction of the usual AI energy consumption - has raised an additional $22 million from leading investors to further scale its “super-brain” solution. The round was led by Plural with all existing investors – UCL Technology Fund, XTX Ventures, Clean Growth Fund, and Dorilton Ventures – reinvesting.
Oriole Networks solves AI’s biggest challenges – speed, latency and sustainability. It uses light, via advanced photonics technology, to create networks of AI chips and combine their processing power. With this novel approach, LLMs can be trained up to a 100x faster, whilst consuming a fraction of power, allowing algorithms to run with much lower latency. Oriole’s technology dramatically reduces the energy consumption of data centres which is putting a huge strain on energy grids in both the US and Europe. If data centre demand triples by 2035, as expected, and developers struggle to install new wind and solar, power sector emissions could be more than 56 per cent higher than forecast, according to research by Rhodium Group.
Unique IP decades in the making at UCL
Founded in 2023 out of University College London (UCL), Oriole Networks brings together pioneering science in optical networks, with first-hand founder experience from a tech entrepreneur who has built major businesses in the sector. CEO James Regan, who built EFFECT Photonics, has put together an extremely experienced commercial team to bring the technology and unique IP developed over two decades at UCL by founding scientists Professor George Zervas, Alessandro Ottino, and Joshua Benjamin to a sector that is crying out for a solution to its sustainability problems. Ian Hogarth, who led the investment on behalf of Plural, will be joining the board to help support the team through this crucial scaling phase.
An unmatched team with global ambition and backer
In less than a year, Oriole has assembled an experienced, proven photonics team that is unparalleled in the UK, including a team out of Lumentum. The company is backed by professionals in high-performance clusters, including the venture arm of XTX Markets, which operates one of the largest GPU clusters in the world.
Accelerating machine learning in a low-carbon world
AI’s energy consumption problem is well known with a report published in September suggesting that ChatGPT alone uses enough energy to power the entire country of Gibraltar for a year. A single ChatGPT query uses >25x more energy than a Google search, according to research from Stanford University. At the same time, AI computing power is doubling every 100 days and is set to increase by more than a million times in the next five years. Oriole’s tech addresses this demand without sacrificing our planet to do so.
The recent funding takes the total raised by Oriole Networks this year to $35 million and will be used to increase Oriole’s pace even further by expanding its team and engaging with high-volume suppliers. By 2025, it plans to have its early-stage products in the hands of customers, creating an ecosystem of photonic networking for AI.
James Regan, CEO of Oriole Networks, said: “This funding is yet another milestone for Oriole following a year of rapid pace and growth. This is a booming market desperate for solutions and our ambition is to create an ecosystem of photonic networking that can reshape this industry by solving today’s bottlenecks and enabling greater competition at the GPU layer. Building on decades of research, we’re paving the way for faster, more efficient, more sustainable AI.”
Ian Hogarth, Partner at Plural, said: “Applying 20 years of deep research and learning in photonics to create a better AI infrastructure demonstrates how much more innovation there is to come to help reap the benefits of this technology. The team behind Oriole Networks have proven experience in both company building and bringing deep science to commercialisation and are creating a fundamental shift in the design of next generation networked systems that will reduce latency and slash the energy impact of data centres on which we now rely.”
Notes to editors
Contact: Antonella Scimemi / antonella@burlington.cc
About Oriole Networks: Oriole Networks is a new company that will revolutionise the performance of AI systems and speed up data centres, whilst dramatically reducing energy consumption for a sustainable future. https://www.oriolenetworks.com
About Plural: Plural is an early-stage investment fund that backs the most ambitious founders on a mission to change the world through technology. Plural launched in June 2022 with the aim to give serious founders in Europe investors with experience to match their ambition. Based in Tallinn, Estonia, and London, UK, Plural’s mission is to have GDP-level impact on Europe, address systemic risks and reduce the opportunity gap worldwide through the companies it backs. https://pluralplatform.com
About Clean Growth Fund: CGF was launched in 2020. It is a £101m venture capital fund that is targeting the UK’s most promising early stage “clean growth” companies that are pioneering carbon emission reductions in the areas of power and industry, buildings, transport, agrifood, water and waste. Its remit is to drive superior financial returns for investors and accelerate the development and commercialisation of clean growth technologies in the UK – leading to the creation of new and skilled jobs across the country and contributing to the UK’s efforts to deliver net zero by 2050. To date, it has invested in 19 British companies. https:// www.cleangrowthfund.com
About UCL Technology Fund: The UCL Technology Fund exists to help solve the world’s most pressing problems: healthy planet, healthy people and healthy work. It helps UCL innovators across the Physical and Life Sciences scale globally. The Fund supports UCL in achieving the full potential of innovations that have prospects for outstanding societal and market impact, right through the development journey from initial proof of concept to practical commercial application. The Fund is managed by AlbionVC in collaboration with UCL Business. For further information please visit: www.ucltf.co.uk .
About XTX Ventures: XTX Ventures is the venture capital arm of leading algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets. XTX Ventures is an early-stage VC fund investing in companies with machine learning as a core technology. This unique focus enables XTX to provide tailored operational support and guidance to its portfolio companies by leveraging XTX Markets’ world-leading expertise in machine learning to help grow and enhance those businesses. XTX can lead or co-invest and have dedicated follow-on capital.
XTX Markets has over 200 employees based in London, Paris, New York, Mumbai, Yerevan and Singapore. XTX provides liquidity across financial markets and trades over $250bn a day. XTX Markets' expansive research cluster contains 100,000 cores and 20,000 A/V100 GPUs, with 390 petabytes of usable storage and 7.5 petabytes of RAM. Alongside rich datasets and advanced technological infrastructure, XTX is at the forefront of the crossover of finance and technology.
About Dorilton Ventures: Dorilton Ventures leads significant minority investments in early- to mid-stage technology companies focused on data-centric segments such as IT infrastructure, data science, and cyber security. For more information, please visit www.doriltongroup.com
Company registration number: 14802813
Registered office: 100 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 2AT, United Kingdom
© Oriole Networks 2024