Salience Labs, a photonic chip startup based in Milton, Oxfordshire, raised an oversubscribed $125 million Series B led by Bullhound Capital.
Why it matters: The round shows chipmakers spreading photonics bets across optical I/O, interconnect and switching layers, giving readers a concrete read on where AI data-center networking money is going.
Seattle startup Kapta Space raised $24 million in a Series A led by Washington Harbour Partners.
Why it matters: Kapta's $24M Series A shows defense-tech investors backing cheaper steerable radar for satellite constellations, a niche where Seattle hardware startups are gaining traction.
Mecka AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human motion data to train humanoid and other robots.
Why it matters: Mecka AI's $60M Series B shows how human-motion data collection is becoming a funded layer for robot training, with Nvidia and M12 joining Sequoia.