UK AI chip startup OLIX achieves unicorn status with €270.5 million funding round

London-Based AI Chip Startup OLIX Secures €270.5 Million in Series B Funding

OLIX, a London-based AI chip startup that focuses on developing infrastructure for frontier AI inference, has recently announced a significant milestone. The company has successfully closed a €270.5 million ($312 million) Series B financing round, valuing the startup at €2.8 billion ($3.3 billion). This achievement comes just two years after OLIX was founded.

The Series B financing round saw participation from prominent investors such as Fundomo, Arm, and Hudson River Trading, as well as angel investors including Reed Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix. Existing investors also increased their commitments, demonstrating confidence in OLIX’s vision and potential for growth.

As part of its expansion efforts, OLIX has appointed Professor Nick McKeown, a distinguished figure in the field of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, to its board of directors. Additionally, the company has welcomed Matt Briers, a former executive at Wise, as its Chief Financial Officer.

Founded in London in 2024, OLIX stands out for designing all components of its systems, including chips, lasers, and network infrastructure. The company’s approach challenges the industry norm by advocating for specialized chips for different stages of AI inference, aiming to enhance performance and reduce costs.

OLIX’s X-1 platform leverages a unique production line concept, where models are distributed across multiple chips, allowing each chip to focus on a specific part of the model. This approach, combined with a “slow and wide” optical interconnect, aims to optimize AI performance and energy efficiency.

The company’s flagship chip, DX-1, is designed to deliver superior inference performance for large-scale AI models. With a focus on energy efficiency and scalability, DX-1 is poised to enable the deployment of more powerful AI models in the future.

OLIX plans to utilize the Series B funding to bring DX-1 to market by the second half of 2027. The company also aims to further develop its custom silicon platform and expand its manufacturing capabilities to meet the growing demand for frontier inference hardware.

For those interested in joining OLIX’s innovative team, the company is actively hiring across various engineering disciplines in key locations such as London, Bristol, Austin, Toronto, and San Francisco.