Aylight, a Swiss photonics startup developing advanced laser chips for AI data centres, has raised €4.5M in a pre-seed round co-led by Elaia and Swisscom Ventures, with additional support from Verve Ventures and Plug and Play.
Founded in 2025 by Bahareh Marzban and Dmitry Kazakov, the company will use the funding to develop its first semiconductor-foundry prototypes and grow its research and development team.
Addressing The Market Opportunity
As AI infrastructure continues to scale, the demand for faster and more efficient data transfer between computer chips and across data centres is intensifying. Optical interconnects, which move data using light rather than electrical signals, are increasingly central to meeting this demand. The laser, however, has become one of the key constraints on how far this infrastructure can scale.
Current optical communication systems typically rely on multiple separate lasers to handle different wavelengths of light, adding cost, complexity, and physical footprint to a problem that AI infrastructure is making more urgent by the day.
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How The Technology Works
Aylight has developed a chip-scale technology capable of producing multiple laser wavelengths from a single chip, eliminating the need for arrays of separate lasers in optical communication systems. The technology is based on a frequency-modulated comb architecture and is designed to be manufactured using existing semiconductor photonics production facilities, reducing the barriers to commercial scaling.
The company’s initial focus is on optical interconnects for data centres, where the technology improves the speed and efficiency of data transfer between computer chips. Looking further ahead, Aylight’s laser platform has potential applications in semiconductor inspection, industrial automation, precision robotics, and advanced 3D sensing, where accurate, high-quality optical measurement is critical.
Growth And Market Traction
Aylight was founded in 2025 and is currently in the pre-seed stage, with its core technology emerging from research into one of the central bottlenecks facing AI infrastructure. The round brings together investors with strong track records in deep-tech and photonics, including Elaia, Swisscom Ventures, Verve Ventures, and Plug and Play.
Expansion Plans
The €4.5M raise will fund the development of Aylight’s first semiconductor-foundry prototypes, bringing its multiwavelength laser technology from research toward initial commercial products. The company will also use the capital to expand its R&D team as it works toward its first product releases for the data centre market.
Looking Ahead
Bahareh Marzban, co-founder and CEO of Aylight, described the problem-first approach behind the company’s founding: “The company was founded to tackle one of the key constraints facing AI infrastructure. We started from a problem rather than a technology: the laser had become one of the constraints on scaling AI infrastructure. This funding will help us bring our technology from research to our first products.”
About Aylight
Aylight is a Swiss photonics company founded in 2025 by Bahareh Marzban and Dmitry Kazakov. The company develops chip-scale multiwavelength laser technology designed to improve optical interconnects in AI data centres, enabling faster and more efficient data transfer between computer chips. Its frequency-modulated comb architecture produces multiple laser wavelengths from a single chip and is compatible with existing semiconductor photonics manufacturing processes. Future applications include semiconductor inspection, industrial automation, precision robotics, and advanced 3D sensing.
