SpaceX Veterans Secure $50M Series A to Revolutionize Data Center Optical Interconnects

Three former SpaceX engineers—Travis Brashears, Cameron Ramos, and Serena Grown-Haeberli—who previously developed optical communications links for the Starlink satellite constellation, have announced a $50 million Series A funding round for their startup, Mesh Optical Technologies. The round was led by Thrive Capital.

Based in Los Angeles, Mesh Optical Technologies is focused on mass-producing optical transceivers—critical components that convert optical signals from fiber or laser sources into electrical signals processable by computing systems. The founding team identified a significant market gap while designing next-generation compute-intensive SpaceX satellites, which required them to evaluate the current optical transceiver ecosystem and its inherent limitations.

Optical transceivers play a crucial role in modern AI data center infrastructure, particularly for facilities dedicated to training and operating large-scale deep learning models. These components enable multiple GPUs to operate in parallel, creating high-performance compute clusters. As CEO Brashears noted, "Someone will brag about a million GPU cluster; you have to multiply by four to five for the number of transceivers in that cluster."

The company has set an ambitious manufacturing target of 1,000 units per day within the next year, positioning itself to qualify for bulk orders in 2027 and 2028. One established U.S. supplier, AOI, secured a $4 billion contract to provide components for AWS data centers last year, demonstrating the substantial market opportunity.

Strategic Supply Chain Positioning

Mesh Optical Technologies is differentiating itself by building a supply chain outside of China, which currently dominates the optical transceiver market. While trade restrictions haven't yet significantly impacted this sector, the founders and their investors view this strategic positioning as addressing an emerging national security concern.

According to Thrive Partner Philip Clark, "If AI is the most important technology in several generations (which we believe to be true), to have critical parts of AI data center capex run through misaligned/competitive countries is a problem. In the immediate term, Mesh is solving our need for better ways to do interconnect if we want to keep scaling AI."

Manufacturing Innovation and Technical Advantages

The primary challenge for Mesh lies in implementing lights-out, automated manufacturing techniques—capabilities that are uncommon in U.S. industrial operations but prevalent in Chinese manufacturing. Much of this expertise is concentrated in China to such an extent that even European equipment suppliers design their processes around Chinese customers.

By co-locating design and production facilities, the team aims to achieve more efficient and cost-effective component manufacturing. Their current design architecture eliminates one commonly used but power-intensive component, which President Ramos estimates could reduce GPU cluster power consumption by 3% to 5%—a significant improvement as hyperscalers continuously optimize for energy efficiency.

Long-term Vision Beyond Data Centers

While data center interconnects represent Mesh's initial market focus, the company envisions optical wavelength communications as the next fundamental paradigm shift in telecommunications infrastructure. "The world has primarily focused on radio frequencies for a long time," Brashears explained. "We want to be at the precipice of transition from RF to photonics…we want to interconnect everything, and not just computers, but that's where we're starting."

Sources:
Fierce Network - AOI's $4B AWS Contract