Key facts
- Relativity Networks raised $22 million in SAFE note funding.
- The funding round included Rhapsody Venture Partners, Bell Ventures Inc., and Faster Than Glass LLC.
- The company also secured a $40 million follow-on order from a major hyperscaler.
- Relativity Networks utilizes hollow-core fiber technology for data transmission.
- Hollow-core fiber allows data to travel 30% faster than conventional fiber optics.
Relativity Networks has announced $22 million in SAFE note funding, with participation from Rhapsody Venture Partners, Bell Ventures Inc., and Faster Than Glass LLC, to advance its hollow-core fiber technology. The company also secured a $40 million follow-on order from an unnamed hyperscaler.
Hollow-core fiber transmits data through a vacuum chamber, enabling speeds approximately 30% faster than traditional fiber-optic glass. CEO Jason Eisenholz estimates this reduces signal travel time per kilometer from five microseconds to three and a half microseconds. This speed improvement is particularly relevant for large-scale AI compute operations that span multiple data center buildings or campuses, where minimizing latency is critical for synchronized operation.
Eisenholz believes this technology can alter the geographical considerations for data center buildouts, allowing for larger physical distances between facilities before latency becomes a significant issue. He views this as a key development for the third era of AI, which focuses on optimizing geography, following eras focused on compute and internal networking.