Lumai Secures Over $10 Million to Revolutionize AI Computing with Optical Technology
AI accelerator startup Lumai has announced a successful funding round exceeding $10 million, aiming to revolutionize the performance and efficiency of AI data centers. The company, which pioneers optical computing to tackle AI's escalating energy and computational demands, will use the fresh capital to advance product development, grow its team, and expand its footprint in the US market.
The investment round was led by Constructor Capital, known for backing deep tech innovators, with additional support from existing investor IP Group and new participants including PhotonVentures, Journey Ventures, LIFTT, Qubits Ventures, State Farm Ventures, and TIS Inc.
Addressing AI’s Growing Power Needs
As the push toward artificial general intelligence accelerates, traditional silicon-based processors are straining under the load. With projections indicating that US data center energy consumption could triple by 2028, reaching up to 12% of national power use Lumai's optical computing approach arrives at a critical moment.
Spun out of the University of Oxford, Lumai has developed breakthrough technology that harnesses optical beams traveling in 3D space to perform AI's intensive calculations. This approach bypasses the scaling limitations of traditional silicon GPUs and integrated photonics. Using affordable optical components and a PCIe form factor, Lumai promises to deliver superior AI inference performance at a fraction of current costs.
According to Lumai, their optical accelerator is expected to reduce AI inference costs to just 10% of existing solutions, offer 50 times the performance of conventional silicon accelerators, and slash energy consumption by 90%, making it a game-changer for AI data centers.
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Tim Weil, Lumai’s CEO and co-founder, said, “The future of AI demands radical breakthroughs in computing. The cost of current LLMs is unsustainable, and next-generation AI won’t happen without a major shift. Lumai’s innovative optical computing design overcomes the scalability challenges that have held others back and dramatically reduces power consumption, which will drive down the cost of AI.”
Lumai’s innovative approach is already gaining industry acclaim. The company recently won the Best Overall Technology Award at the Global OCP Future Technologies Symposium and completed Intel Ignite’s London accelerator program.
Furthermore, co-founder Dr. Xianxin Guo has been selected for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Shott Accelerator 2024, while Dr. James Spall earned a spot on the Photonics 100 list for 2025.
