Aylight, a Swiss photonics startup, has closed a €4.5 million pre-seed funding round to accelerate the development of its chip-scale multiwavelength laser technology designed for artificial intelligence data-center optical interconnects and high-precision sensing applications.
The Zürich-based company, which was founded in 2025, attracted backing from Elaia and Swisscom Ventures as lead investors, alongside participation from Verve Ventures and Plug and Play. The capital infusion will support the development of semiconductor-foundry prototypes and the expansion of the company’s research and development team.
Addressing Infrastructure Constraints
Aylight’s technology targets a critical bottleneck in scaling AI infrastructure. According to Bahareh Marzban, co-founder and CEO, the company identified the laser as a significant constraint limiting the expansion of AI systems. “We started from a problem rather than a technology: the laser had become one of the constraints on scaling AI infrastructure,” Marzban stated. “This funding will help us bring our technology from research to our first products.”
The startup’s approach focuses on developing advanced laser solutions that can improve the efficiency and capability of data-center interconnects, which are essential for handling the massive computational demands of modern artificial intelligence systems. Beyond data centers, the technology also holds applications in high-precision sensing markets.
Deeptech Investment Activity
The funding round reflects ongoing investor interest in deeptech ventures within the European startup ecosystem. Aylight’s pre-seed stage investment demonstrates the willingness of established venture capital firms and corporate venture arms to back early-stage physics and engineering-focused companies with long development timelines.
The participation of Swisscom Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Switzerland’s leading telecommunications company, suggests alignment with broader industry trends around optical networking infrastructure. Elaia’s involvement as co-lead investor underscores the Paris-based venture capital firm’s focus on supporting European deeptech innovation across hardware and semiconductor sectors.
European Deeptech Momentum
Aylight’s funding success contributes to a growing wave of investment in European photonics and optical technology startups. The region has established itself as a meaningful player in the global race to develop next-generation semiconductor and photonic solutions, particularly as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates infrastructure demands.
The company now joins a cohort of European deeptech ventures working on fundamental technology challenges that underpin digital infrastructure. As AI data centers require increasingly sophisticated optical interconnect solutions, photonics startups addressing these technical challenges are attracting attention from both traditional venture capital and industry-focused investors seeking exposure to transformative infrastructure technologies.