Oriole Networks
London, GB · Founded 2023 · 81 employees on LinkedIn · 7 known investors
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Oriole Networks develops PRISM, an all-optical circuit-switched networking fabric that uses photonic switching to connect GPUs at scale for AI/ML and high-performance computing data centers. The technology aims to increase GPU utilization and reduce network power consumption for AI training and inference workloads.
Also known as Oriole · Oriole Networks Limited
Founders & leadership
Oriole Networks was founded in 2023 by George Zervas, Alessandro Ottino, and Joshua Benjamin.
Investors · 7
Also in the syndicate · 2
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$22M disclosed across 1 of 3 rounds · 2024
- Undisclosed amountSeries AOct 2024
Plural (lead), Clean Growth Fund, Dorilton Ventures, UCL Technology Fund, XTX Ventures
Source ↗ - $22MraisedOct 2024 · 2 sourcesSource ↗
- Undisclosed amountSeedMar 2024 · 2 sources
Clean Growth Fund (lead), Dorilton Ventures (lead), UCL Technology Fund (lead), XTX Ventures (lead)
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Oriole Networks is a London-based photonic networking company developing all-optical networking for AI/ML and high-performance computing data centers. Its flagship product, PRISM (Photonic Routing Infrastructure for Scalable Models), is described as a pure photonic switched network that removes electrical packet switches and associated hardware from the data center network, using light alone to move data between GPUs and other accelerators. The company positions the technology as addressing three constraints in AI infrastructure: throughput/latency bottlenecks in training and inference, GPU idle time caused by network congestion, and the electricity consumed by conventional electrical switching and the cooling it requires.
PRISM is offered as a full-stack solution comprising a software layer (xCCL plugins and PCIe drivers that substitute the default transport layer used by collective communication libraries such as NCCL and RCCL, working with PyTorch/TensorFlow and CUDA/ROCm runtimes), a network interface card providing 800 Gbps of bandwidth in a standard-server form factor, an integrated photonic switch and transceiver (XTR) that performs wavelength and route selection on the fly, and a fully passive modular photonic router that requires no power or cooling and supports top-of-rack and central deployments. The architecture combines switching across time, wavelength and space at nanosecond granularity to provide port-level all-to-all connectivity, a claimed one-hop diameter at up to one million endpoints, and multiple paths between nodes for resilience.
The company's intellectual property derives from optical networking and machine learning research carried out at University College London over roughly two decades, and Oriole was founded in 2023 as a UCL spinout. Its registered office is at 2nd Floor, 4 City Road, London EC1Y 2AA, United Kingdom.
Founding story
The technology is based on optical networking and machine learning research conducted over about two decades at University College London by Professor George Zervas. Zervas, with co-founders Alessandro Ottino and Joshua Benjamin, saw an opportunity to build an optical system that would change how data moves inside the data center while cutting power use and raising infrastructure utilization. Needing a commercial operator to take the work out of the lab, they approached James Regan, who had previously built optical systems company EFFECT Photonics, and he joined as CEO. The company was founded in 2023 as a UCL spinout.
Business model
Oriole develops and sells photonic networking hardware and accompanying software to operators of AI and HPC computing clusters, supplying network interface cards, integrated photonic switch/transceiver modules and passive photonic routers together with a software stack that plugs into existing AI frameworks and collective communication libraries. Coverage of the October 2024 round noted that proceeds would be used to expand the team and engage with high-volume suppliers, indicating a manufactured-product approach.
Traction
Oriole says it assembled an experienced photonics team within its first year, including engineers from Lumentum. PRISM was announced in May 2025 and hardware was shown in March 2026 alongside AMD Instinct MI200. In June 2026 the company announced its first commercial deployment, a pure photonic AI network with AMD GPUs and CPUs at ARIA's Scaling Inference Lab during London Tech Week, with broader industry rollout indicated for 2027. One tracker lists employee headcount in an 80-200 range.
Latest developments
In March 2026 Oriole revealed PRISM hardware (network interface card, XTR and passive photonic router) with AMD Instinct MI200, announced PRISM Ultra, a one-hop photonic network fabric with 50 exabit per second throughput, and was reported to be partnering with Tower Semiconductor on nanosecond optical switching for AI networks. In April 2026 it marked its three-year anniversary and began Series B fundraising efforts in the US. In June 2026 it announced the deployment of what it describes as the world's first AI system with a pure photonic network, in a commercial rollout with AMD at ARIA's Scaling Inference Lab.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Oriole is one of several photonics companies attracting investment for AI data center networking; contemporaneous coverage grouped its October 2024 raise with rounds by Lightmatter and Xscape Photonics, noting that Oriole's approach is the most sweeping in aiming to connect every chip in a cluster to every other chip. Press described it as the UK's leading assembled photonics team, including staff recruited from Lumentum, and as a UCL spinout backed by investors with high-performance cluster experience.
The company describes PRISM as the first pure photonic switched network for data centers, eliminating all electrical packet switches rather than augmenting them. Distinguishing claims include a fully passive, unpowered optical core; one-hop connectivity at up to one million endpoints; nanosecond circuit reconfiguration across time, wavelength and space; low blast radius, since a failure affects only a single node rather than many nodes behind a centralized electrical switch; and drop-in software integration that leaves customer models and code unchanged.
Technology
PRISM is an all-optical, circuit-switched fabric. The network core is entirely passive glass with no moving parts, dissipating no power and requiring no cooling, with control functions moved to the network edge. Switching is combined across spatial, wavelength and time domains to create an address space supporting up to one million nodes with a one-hop diameter and port-level all-to-all connectivity. Purpose-built collective communication algorithms for optical circuit-switched networks enable schedule-free, contention-free transfers completed in a few steps. Hardware elements include an 800 Gbps pluggable PCIe network interface card, the XTR integrated photonic switch and transceiver in a pluggable form factor, and a passive modular photonic router providing dual-path resilience. The company states the design virtually eliminates (to under 1%) communication-dependent GPU idle time.
Go-to-market
The company states its components are application-independent and designed to integrate with existing infrastructure and software workflows, so customers need not change their code base or models. It planned to put early-stage products in customers' hands by 2025 and to build an ecosystem of photonic networking for AI. A first commercial deployment was reported with AMD GPUs and CPUs at ARIA's Scaling Inference Lab, with wider industry rollout indicated for 2027, and the company has presented at industry venues including SLUSH 2024 in Helsinki and an OpenLight booth.
Operators of AI and HPC data centers and large GPU clusters running large language model training and inference, distributed deep learning and high-performance workloads such as algorithmic trading, drug discovery, climate modelling and natural language processing.
Geography
Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with a registered office at 2nd Floor, 4 City Road, London EC1Y 2AA. Its technology originates from University College London, its first announced deployment is at a UK lab, and leadership travelled to the United States in 2026 to begin Series B fundraising.
History
Founded in 2023 out of UCL, Oriole raised approximately £10 million (about $12.5 million) in seed funding in March 2024, co-led by UCL Technology Fund, Clean Growth Fund, XTX Ventures and Dorilton Ventures, followed by a $22 million Series A in October 2024 led by Plural, bringing the total raised in its first year to $35 million. Plural partner Ian Hogarth joined the board. The company unveiled PRISM in May 2025, disclosed PRISM hardware (NIC, XTR and passive photonic router, shown with AMD Instinct MI200) in March 2026, announced PRISM Ultra with 50 exabit per second throughput in March 2026, marked its three-year anniversary in April 2026, and announced deployment of its first pure photonic AI network with AMD in June 2026.
Risks & controversies
Performance claims, including training speed-ups of 10x to 100x, sub-1% GPU idle time, support for one million endpoints and 50 exabit per second throughput, originate largely from the company and had not been independently verified in the material reviewed. No valuation was disclosed for the Series A round. The company also competes with better-capitalized photonics firms such as Lightmatter, which raised $400 million at a $4.4 billion valuation in October 2024.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 7
launches, deals, and filingsOriole announced deployment of what it describes as the world's first AI system with a pure photonic network, using AMD Instinct GPUs and AMD CPUs at ARIA's Scaling Inference Lab in the UK, announced during London Tech Week, with wider industry rollout indicated for 2027.
First hardware release featuring the network interface card, XTR and passive photonic router, shown with AMD Instinct MI200.
Reported partnership between Tower Semiconductor and Oriole on nanosecond optical switching for AI networks.
Oriole announced PRISM Ultra, described as a one-hop photonic network fabric with 50 exabit per second throughput and the next evolution of its pure photonic AI networking platform.
Oriole announced PRISM (Photonic Routing Infrastructure for Scalable Models), a pure photonic switched network for data centers, HPC and distributed deep learning, comprising a software stack with xCCL plugins and PCIe drivers, an 800 Gbps network interface card, the XTR integrated photonic switch and transceiver, and a passive photonic router.
Oriole raised an additional $22 million led by Plural, with existing investors UCL Technology Fund, XTX Ventures, Clean Growth Fund and Dorilton Ventures reinvesting. Plural partner Ian Hogarth joined the board. The round brought total funding raised in the company's first year to $35 million; no valuation was disclosed.
$22M source ↗
Oriole announced a £10 million (approximately $12.5 million) seed round co-led by UCL Technology Fund, Clean Growth Fund, XTX Ventures and Dorilton Ventures, to advance technology development and initial market entry.
$12.5M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Companies House · registry record
View on Companies House ↗- Registered name
- ORIOLE NETWORKS LTD
- Company number
- 14802813
- Status
- Active
- Company type
- Private limited company
- Incorporated
- 14 Apr 2023
- Registered office
- 2nd Floor 4 City Road, London, EC1Y 2AA
- Nature of business (SIC)
- 26200 — Manufacture of computers and peripheral equipment26309 — Manufacture of communication equipment other than telegraph, and telephone apparatus and equipment
- Accounts
- last made up to 31 Dec 2025 · next due 30 Sept 2027
- Confirmation statement
- last made up to 13 Apr 2026 · next due 27 Apr 2027
Current officers · 5
- Sarah-Jane Vivien Quibell — secretary, appointed 6 Jan 2025
- Ian Robert Ponder Hogarth — director, appointed 19 Aug 2024
- James Dominic Regan — director, appointed 14 Apr 2023
- Georgios Zervas — director, appointed 14 Apr 2023
- Ucltf Corporate Directors Ltd — corporate director, appointed 24 Jan 2024
Source: Companies House public register · retrieved 30 Aug 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Oriole Networksoriolenetworks.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Oriole Networks do?
- London photonic networking startup building PRISM, an all-optical switched network fabric for AI and HPC data centers.
- Who founded Oriole Networks?
- Oriole Networks was founded by George Zervas, Alessandro Ottino, Joshua Benjamin in 2023.
- Who are Oriole Networks's investors?
- Oriole Networks's investors include AlbionVC, Clean Growth Fund, UCL Technology Fund, Plural, XTX Markets.
- How much funding has Oriole Networks raised?
- Oriole Networks has disclosed $22M raised across 1 of its 3 known rounds.
- Where is Oriole Networks headquartered?
- Oriole Networks is headquartered in London, GB.