Palo Alto-based optical connectivity startup PicoJool has emerged from stealth with $12 million in seed funding led by Playground Global. The company addresses a pressing challenge in hyperscale and AI data centres: the rising demand for bandwidth has pushed copper connectivity to its physical and economic limits.
“The relentless demand for bandwidth in hyperscale and AI data centres requires a fundamental shift in connectivity, moving beyond the physical and economic constraints of copper. This funding will accelerate our deployment of high-reliability, cost-effective VCSEL technology across external foundries,” said Al Yuen, founder and CEO of PicoJool.
Shifting from copper to optical connectivity
The company was founded by Al Yuen, a prolific inventor with over 50 patents, including those behind Active Optical Cables (AOC) and the QSFP transceiver, known as cornerstones of today’s internet infrastructure. Driven by the mission to dismantle long-standing cost and complexity barriers in photonics, PicoJool aims to accelerate the industry’s foundational shift from copper to optical connectivity, a transition fueled by AI-scale computing demands.
PicoJool’s solution is a new class of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) that deliver unprecedented bandwidth. By using parallel optics and innovative packaging, their VCSELs offer optical links that are as compact, affordable, and manufacturable as traditional copper, enabling scalable, high-performance connectivity tailored to the massive scale of AI systems.
From a technology perspective, PicoJool’s VCSELs feature distinctive parallel optics and packaging innovations that allow their optical chips to compete directly with copper in both cost and performance. Integrated into massively parallel pluggable modules designed for hyperscale AI data centres, these chips deliver longer reach and greater network flexibility.
This contrasts with offerings from competitors like Cisco Systems and II-VI Incorporated, whose optical solutions generally involve higher costs and less scalability for AI workloads. PicoJool’s approach supports current infrastructure and targets future bandwidth milestones up to 800G, 1.6T, and beyond.
What’s next?
Looking ahead, PicoJool plans to use its recent funding to scale manufacturing in the U.S. and Taiwan, deepen R&D efforts, and innovate toward emerging industry standards such as 400G-per-lane systems.
“Along with many others, I have been predicting the move from copper to optical for over a decade. AI-scale computing is the driving force for that conversion to happen now. By making high-bandwidth optical connectivity cost-competitive and manufacturable at scale, PicoJool is collapsing the cost and complexity barriers that have held photonics back for decades,” said Pat Gelsinger, General Partner at Playground Global.
