Here’s something I’ve learned over three decades of building and investing in startups: every computing era has its chokepoint.
Today, with AI, the constraint is crystal clear: networking infrastructure built for yesterday’s cloud can’t handle today’s growing AI workloads.
Models are exploding in size. Inference needs to happen in milliseconds. The infrastructure demands are unlike anything we’ve ever seen. We’re witnessing a fundamental transformation in networking as traditional approaches cannot keep pace with AI’s exponential demands
Think about it: we’re trying to run Ferrari engines on horse-and-buggy roads. It doesn’t work.
That’s why we’re excited about our investment in Upscale AI. They’re reimagining the entire AI networking stack, starting with scale-up solutions for connecting GPUs based on open standards that break free from proprietary systems.
Upscale AI spotted this disruptive opportunity in open networking solutions for AI data centers ahead of many others, creating great momentum right out of the gate. The strong inbound interest they’re seeing from customers and partners before their first product even ships – tells us they have a pain-killer solution.
As I wrote back in June, the Hardware Renaissance is here and is now driving the future.
As McKinsey & Company pointed out: “The AI race isn’t just about model quality—it’s a physical race for compute, energy, and capital.” It’s a fundamental return to hardware as the foundation of technological advancement.
Silicon and systems – fields many had written off as “mature”, are suddenly the hottest frontier again. AI’s exponential growth has reopened fundamental questions that seemed settled:
Upscale AI is answering these questions with a bold approach. They’re not making incremental improvements to existing networking gear.
They’re redesigning the entire networking fabric from the ground up for the AI era.
At Mayfield, we have a simple belief: founders not only create companies, they create categories.
Barun Kar and Rajiv Khemani have proven this multiple times as successful founders. They’ve built companies that reshaped networking, security, and silicon.
We’re excited to continue our partnership with Barun and Rajiv for the third time (from Auradine to Aurascape to Upscale AI), along with their world-class team of a hundred people, as they set out to build a category-defining networking company for the AI era.
Upscale AI is pioneering open-standard networking technology to challenge today’s closed, proprietary systems. Upscale AI’s portfolio is built on SONiC, Ultra Accelerator Link (UAL), Ultra Ethernet (UE), Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI), and other cutting-edge open source technologies and open standards. They are ensuring that the next generation of AI doesn’t get trapped behind proprietary walls.
They’re building the roads that the AI economy will travel on.
Upscale AI launches today with over $100M in funding led by Mayfield, and a vision to redefine how the world’s AI compute connects.
We’re honored to partner with Barun, Rajiv, and the entire Upscale AI team as they build the networking backbone of the AI era.
Alongside our investments in AttoTude and a stealth optical interconnect company, Upscale AI represents our conviction that networking bottlenecks create the most significant opportunities beyond GPUs.
The Hardware Renaissance is just getting started.
