Travis Brashears, Cameron Ramos, and Serena Grown-Haeberli began collaborating at SpaceX, developing optical communications links that keep thousands of Starlink internet satellites in constant contact. 

Now, the three engineers are co-founders of Mesh Optical Technologies, a Los Angeles startup that announced a $50 million Series A led by Thrive Capital on Tuesday. 

Mesh aims to mass-produce optical transceivers, devices that convert optical signals from fiber or laser into electrical signals for computers. CEO Brashears, President Ramos, and VP of Product Grown-Haeberli realized the opportunity when designing a new generation of compute-hungry SpaceX satellites forced them to assess the optical transceiver market, and they saw its limitations.

Optical transceivers are particularly important for data centers aimed at training and operating large deep learning models, because they allow multiple GPUs to work in concert. One established U.S. supplier, AOI, won a contract worth $4 billion to provide components for AWS data centers last year.

“Someone will brag about a million GPU cluster; you have to multiply by four to five for the number of transceivers in that cluster,” Brashears explained. 

The company’s goal is to manufacture a thousand units per day within the year so they can begin qualifying for bulk orders in 2027 and 2028.   

The optical transceiver market is dominated by Chinese firms and suppliers, and Mesh sees an advantage in building its supply chain outside of that country. While trade restrictions haven’t impacted the market yet, the founders and their backers see themselves as getting in front of a national security dilemma.