UK’s Oriole Networks secures €20.2M to train LLMs with light while using significantly less energy

London-based Oriole Networks, a developer of AI optimisation technology, has secured an additional $22M (approximately €20.27M) in funding.

The round was led by Plural, with participation from existing investors, including UCL Technology Fund, XTX Ventures, Clean Growth Fund, and Dorilton Ventures, all of whom reinvested to support the scaling of Oriole’s “super-brain” solution.

To support its growth, Ian Hogarth, who led the investment for Plural, will join the board during this critical scaling phase.

Hogarth, Partner at Plural, says, “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.”

With this round, Oriole Networks has raised, this year, a total capital of $35M. Prior to this round, in March 2024, Oriole raised £10M in a Seed round co-led by UCL Technology Fund, Clean Growth Fund, XTX Ventures, and Dorilton Ventures, with support from Innovate UK Investor Partnership.

Accelerating Machine Learning in a low-carbon world

Founded in 2023 by UCL scientists Prof George Zervas, Alessandro Ottino, and Joshua Benjamin, along with CEO James Regan, Oriole Networks has developed a novel method of using light to connect thousands of AI chips, creating a “super-brain”. 

This technology allows for training advanced Large Language Models up to 100 times faster with significantly lower latency and energy consumption. 

Oriole’s approach can increase data transfer speeds by up to 100 times while reducing power use to just 2-3 per cent of that required by Ethernet cables, aiming to enhance energy efficiency in data centres.

With the increasing demand for data centres, which could triple by 2035, Oriole’s technology aims to alleviate the strain on energy grids in the US and Europe. 

In under a year, Oriole has assembled a photonics team in the UK, featuring talent from Lumentum. The company is backed by experts in high-performance clusters, including the venture arm of XTX Markets, which operates one of the largest GPU clusters globally.

Capital utilisation

The investment will accelerate Oriole Networks’ growth by expanding its team and working with high-volume suppliers. By 2025, Oriole aims to have its early-stage products in customers’ hands, building a photonic networking ecosystem for AI.

James Regan, CEO of Oriole Networks, says, “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.”

Brief about the investors

Plural is an early-stage investment fund launched in June 2022, supporting founders aiming to change the world through technology. With offices in Tallinn and London, Plural focuses on creating GDP-level impact in Europe, addressing systemic risks, and reducing opportunity gaps globally through its investments.

Clean Growth Fund (CGF), launched in 2020, is a £101M VC fund targeting the UK’s most promising early-stage “clean growth” companies. The fund is focused on reducing carbon emissions across sectors such as power, industry, buildings, transport, agrifood, water, and waste.

CGF aims to accelerate the commercialisation of clean technologies. Its efforts contribute to the creation of skilled jobs and the UK’s goal of achieving net zero by 2050. To date, it has invested in 19 British companies.

The UCL Technology Fund aims to address global challenges related to planetary health, human health, and work by supporting UCL innovators in the Physical and Life Sciences. It assists in maximising the societal and market impact of innovations from initial proof of concept to commercial application. The Fund is managed by AlbionVC in collaboration with UCL Business.
XTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets, invests in early-stage companies with machine learning as a core technology. This focus allows XTX to offer tailored operational support by leveraging its expertise in machine learning. The firm can lead or co-invest and has dedicated follow-on capital. XTX provides liquidity across financial markets and trades over $250B a day.