Relativity Networks said it raised $22 million in new funding and landed a $40 million follow-on order from an unnamed hyperscaler, giving the Orlando-based optical networking startup a commercial boost.
The investment came in at more than double Relativity’s target and included new backers Rhapsody Venture Partners, Bell Ventures Inc. and Faster Than Glass LLC.
The hyperscaler order followed a successful test of Relativity’s ChronoCore hollow-core fiber technology linking two data centers.
Relativity is pitching ChronoCore as a way to solve one of AI infrastructure’s emerging headaches: latency between distributed compute sites. As power availability increasingly dictates where hyperscalers can build, operators may need to connect GPUs spread across greater distances while still making them behave like one system.
The announcement follows a manufacturing milestone with Prysmian. The companies produced a 24-fiber hollow-core cable in a single 10-millimeter sheath, which Relativity said was successfully installed in standard microducts during testing with Dura-Line. ChronoCore fiber is produced at Prysmian’s Eindhoven, Netherlands facility and cabled in Claremont, North Carolina.
Read the full press release here.
Read more about hollow core fiber here.