The bottleneck in AI data centres isn’t only the chips. It’s how fast thousands of them can talk to each other. Vaysh Kewada’s company, Salience Labs, is building switches that move that traffic as light, and on October 14, 2026 Tech.eu reported that it had raised an oversubscribed $125 million Series B led by Bullhound Capital. Two chipmakers’ venture arms, AMD Ventures and Intel Capital, joined the round.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| CEO and co-founder | Vaysh Kewada |
| Company | Salience Labs, Oxford, England; founded 2021 |
| Research roots | University of Oxford and University of Münster |
| Product | Optical circuit switches for AI data centre GPU clusters |
| Latest round | $125 million Series B, October 2026 |
| Lead investor | Bullhound Capital (Callum Stewart joins the board) |
| New investors | AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, SBI Group, Hudson River Trading, British Business Bank |
| Milestone | 64-port all-optical switch demonstrated at ECOC 2026 |
From a lab result to a company
Salience Labs grew out of more than a decade of silicon photonics research at the University of Oxford and the University of Münster, per Pulse 2.0, which dates the company to 2021. When it raised its $11.5 million seed round in May 2022, led by Cambridge Innovation Capital and Oxford Science Enterprises, its pitch was a processor combining photonics and electronics. “The world needs ever faster chips to grow AI capability,” Kewada told Tech.eu at the time.
By 2026 the focus had narrowed to networking: optical circuit switching that can connect thousands of GPUs across multiple racks, using what Tech.eu calls a “fully integrated, all-optical switching architecture.” In between came a $30 million Series A, announced by February 2025 alongside a new CFO, Bonnie Tomei, and a new board member, Dr. William Jeffrey, per a company release republished by MarTech Edge.
Why chipmakers bought in
Kewada’s argument is about the economics of AI clusters. “OCS will play a critical role in AI datacenter networking,” she said, adding that “high-performance optical switches are needed to deliver the token economics that workloads demand.” At the ECOC 2026 conference, Salience demonstrated a 64-port all-optical photonic switch, which Tech.eu describes as an industry first for silicon-photonics-based optical circuit switching. It is working on 128-port and 256-port versions.
The money will go to scaling volume manufacturing with partners Keysight Technologies and Tower Semiconductor, hiring engineers, and opening a second West Coast location in Silicon Valley. Bullhound’s Callum Stewart, who joins the board, credited Kewada with assembling a team focused on a switch design that fits customers’ near- and long-term plans, per Pulse 2.0.
Where she fits
Hardware founders are a small group on this site. Eléonore Crespo’s Pigment raised a bigger round the same month with Nvidia planning to invest. Between them, the two companies cover both ends of the AI stack: planning software on top, network hardware underneath. And Gordana Sretenovic made the case on this site for why tech companies need female founders at all. Kewada is running the argument at chip scale.
Salience hasn’t disclosed a valuation, revenue or customer names, and we don’t estimate them.
Sources: Tech.eu (October 14, 2026 and May 12, 2022), Pulse 2.0 (October 2026), MarTech Edge (February 10, 2025). Last checked October 28, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Vaysh Kewada?
The CEO and co-founder of Salience Labs, an Oxford photonics company. She has led it through a seed round in 2022, a Series A reported in 2025 and a $125 million Series B in October 2026.
What does Salience Labs make?
Optical circuit switches that connect GPUs across racks in AI data centres using light instead of electrical switching. It demonstrated a 64-port all-optical photonic switch at ECOC 2026 and is developing 128-port and 256-port versions, per Tech.eu.
Who invested in Salience Labs' Series B?
Bullhound Capital led the $125 million round. New investors AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, SBI Group, Hudson River Trading and British Business Bank joined existing backers Applied Ventures, Oxford Science Enterprises, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Silicon Catalyst Ventures.
How much has Salience Labs raised?
Its three disclosed rounds are an $11.5 million seed (May 2022), a $30 million Series A (reported February 2025) and a $125 million Series B (October 2026), about $166.5 million combined by our arithmetic.