Volantis – Our $88M Series A: Demolishing the Memory Wall with Photonics (volantissemi.ai)

Volantis has announced a groundbreaking $88 million Series A funding round, led by Lachy Groom and Abstract, with notable investors including Sam Altman and Jeff Dean. The company is developing a pioneering AI inference system that utilizes photonics to overcome traditional memory limitations, significantly enhancing model capabilities with over 10 trillion parameters and achieving ultra-high interactivity speeds of up to 10,000 tokens per second per user. This advancement promises to revolutionize real-time inference, allowing complex tasks to be completed in seconds rather than hours. The significance of Volantis' approach lies in its innovative optical interconnect technology, which drastically increases both memory capacity and bandwidth—an achievement previously thought impossible due to the trade-offs inherent in existing chip designs. By using custom integrated micro-VCSELs instead of external lasers and eliminating conventional optical fibers, Volantis can provide a new optical fabric that supports high throughput at reduced costs. This engineering breakthrough positions them to enable advanced AI capabilities, presenting a substantial shift in how AI models will interact and function moving forward. The team, backed by a wealth of experience from leading tech firms, is gearing up to tackle ambitious challenges in the AI/ML landscape.