Nexthop AI Secures $110M to Revolutionize AI Infrastructure for Hyperscalers

Nexthop AI Locks up $110M Led by Lightspeed

Nexthop AI builds custom networking solutions for the hyperscalers, including networking hardware designed to each customer's specifications and a choice of a network operating system with the company's own AI. "Hyperscalers need the ecosystem to innovate with them to accelerate their infrastructure deployments," said CEO Anshul Sadana. "Nexthop AI is a force-multiplier, as it partners with and works as an extension of the cloud companies' engineering teams. This disruptive model enables cloud companies to build the most cost- and power-efficient AI solutions." This month, it led Anthropic's huge $3.5 billion funding round that valued the startup at $61.5 billion. Lightspeed also co-led Reflection.Ai's $105 million Series A announced this month. Reflection AI is developing "superintelligence," what it calls an AI system capable of performing most work that involves a computer.

Nexthop AI launches with $110M to build next-gen cloud AI infrastructure - SiliconANGLE

Nexthop AI launches with $110M to build next-gen cloud AI infrastructure Nexthop AI launched today with $110 million in funding led by Lightspeed Ventures to help the world's largest cloud companies build the next generation of artificial intelligence infrastructure. The funding represents a seed and Series A round for the startup, which included Kleiner Perkins, WestBridge Capital, Battery Ventures and Emergent Ventures as participating investors. Nexthop builds custom networking solutions for large-scale cloud companies and hyperscalers, bringing hardware and software that is designed to integrate directly with existing cloud stacks. Its engineers work cooperatively alongside customer cloud architecture engineers and system operators to tailor specialized build-outs. John Furrier, executive analyst at theCUBE Research, spoke with Anshul Sadana, chief executive of Nexthop AI, who explained that with AI, every cloud operator has a custom stack, leading to a classic "build vs. buy" problem. With the advent of the cloud, the limits of technology were already being pushed. However, hyperscale and large-scale cloud clusters required to train and deploy large language model AI at scale demand massive amounts of compute. This translates to racks of graphics computing units, storage and networking architecture used by cloud data centers that are so custom that these enterprise companies can no longer just buy off the proverbial shelf and simply fit it into their custom stack. "What we decided at Nexthop is to co-develop our hardware and software along with our customers so that they can buy what they would have wanted to be built," said Sadana. This can include building networking hardware designed to each customer's specifications, a network operating system of choice hardened by Nexthop AI and optical and electrical interconnects from the customer's supply chain. Sadana said power efficiency is often at the center of the discussion. AI has been dominating energy needs in the past few years, especially since the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022. Ten years ago, a 30-megawatt facility could be considered large, according to a report from industry analyst firm McKinsey & Co., today 200 megawatts is normal. Hyperscaler power demands are expected to outstrip even that. "Each hyperscaler is adding one to two gigawatts of capacity every year. Soon, each one will have 10 gigawatts of capacity or more," explained Sadana. "If you can provide even 1% of power efficiency that's 100 megawatts, that's of the largest data center in the world just a few years ago." Networking also plays a critical role in data center design and providing the best possible outcomes for scaling AI. Nexthop works with open-source network operating systems to provide the best-in-class interoperability for customers, such as SONiC, or Software for Open Networking in the Cloud, an open-source network operating system based on Linux that runs on a large number of network switches. Nexthop said the open-source nature of open-source software, such as SONiC, allows AI data centers and hyperscalers the broad customization needed by such facilities focus on the hardware ecosystems they want to integrate. By partnering with a startup such as Nexthop, Sadana commented cloud AI infrastructure companies can get a leg up on rapidly changing market conditions and stay ahead of technological changes. Since they can build out their custom GPU hardware, storage, and racks to their specifications, this allows them to get to market sooner. Sadana said Nexthop intends to use the funds to hire more talent and build more products to keep pace with the accelerating technological innovation within the AI industry.

Nexthop AI Launches with $110M in Funding to Build More Efficient Al Infrastructure for Hyperscalers

Lightspeed Venture Partners leads funding round for pioneering networking solutions to enable massive growth in cloud deployments Nexthop AI, the company building the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for the world's largest cloud companies, launched from stealth today with $110 million in funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Additional investors include Kleiner Perkins, WestBridge Capital, Battery Ventures and Emergent Ventures. This funding will accelerate the development of Nexthop AI's pioneering networking solutions for cloud and hyperscale AI clusters. To facilitate the staggering scale requirements of AI training and inference, hyperscalers are spending billions in evolving their GPU and networking deployments with upwards of two gigawatts of capacity annually. These companies also require highly optimized hardware and software infrastructure tunable for datacenter build outs. "The world's largest cloud providers need a new generation of networking capabilities to keep pace with the demands of AI workloads," said Guru Chahal, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. "Nexthop AI is filling a critical gap in this $35 billion market with its deep domain expertise, pioneering technology and customized solutions, positioning the company as the go-to partner for leading cloud providers, seeking to seize the AI revolution." Nexthop AI specializes in building custom networking solutions for the hyperscalers, which integrate seamlessly into their optimized cloud-stack. This includes building networking hardware designed to each customer's specifications, a network operating system of their choice hardened by Nexthop AI, along with pre-tested optical and electrical interconnects from the customer's diverse supply chain. "Hyperscalers need the ecosystem to innovate with them to accelerate their infrastructure deployments," said Anshul Sadana, CEO of Nexthop AI. "Nexthop AI is a force-multiplier, as it partners with and works as an extension of the cloud companies' engineering teams. This disruptive model enables cloud companies to build the most cost and power efficient AI solutions." The network has historically played a critical role in underpinning each wave of technology innovation, including mainframe to PC, client-server to cloud and now the AI wave. Nexthop AI's sophisticated products, working seamlessly with open source Network Operating Systems, such as SONiC, provide the agility and customization needed by the hyperscalers. Their overarching expertise in hardware, software, photonics and network architecture enables highly optimized platforms for world class AI infrastructure. About Nexthop AI Nexthop AI is a cohesive team of seasoned industry experts, who through their collaborative product design as well as system and network engineering capabilities are leading the charge on disruptive technical innovation for AI and Cloud networking. Nexthop AI is headquartered in Santa Clara with additional locations in Seattle, Vancouver and Bengaluru, India. https://nexthop.ai About Lightspeed Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech sectors. Over the past 25 years, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 500 companies globally including Abridge, Affirm, Anthropic, Cato Networks, Epic Games, Glean, Mistral, Moveworks, Navan, Netskope, Rubrik, Snap, Wiz, and more. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage $30B in AUM across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in the U.S., Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia. www.lsvp.com