Exclusive: Dutch Astrape Networks lands €7.9M to tackle AI data centre traffic jams

Data centres face significant challenges with energy consumption and bandwidth limitations due to the constant conversion between electronic and optical signals across their networks. This inefficient process consumes substantial energy while limiting the speed and scalability of data centre operations. Astrape Networks, a Dutch deep-tech startup, aims to enhance short-distance data networks by utilising advanced photonics technology that converts data to optical signals only at the network edge, thereby eliminating the need for numerous electrical-optical conversions within the data centre.
Astrape’s solution targets the growing data centre market, expected to reach $624 billion by 2029, driven by cloud computing, AI, and real-time data processing demands. Their approach uses multi-wavelength channels and rapid circuit switching through Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), delivering faster communication speeds and energy savings of up to 20%, potentially reaching 60% as network speeds increase.
Today, Astrape Networks has closed a €7.9 million seed round, which includes a €2.5 million grant from theEuropean Innovation Council (EIC).PhotonVentures, Join Capital, andBrabant Development Agency(BOM) co-led the round, with Shift Invest participating. This funding supports Astrape’s mission to enhance data centre efficiency, crucial for expanding AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure and strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty.
Speaking exclusively toTFN,Francesco Pessolano, CEO and co-founder of Astrape Networks, shared: “We’re using this funding to complete product development and validation, creating a fully functional network switch ready for real-world use. The funding will support early pilot deployments with lead customers. These pilots will guide our refinements as we prepare for scaled manufacturing and broader market readiness by the end of 2027. The investment will also help us grow our technical team, enhance our business capabilities, and strengthen our intellectual property portfolio.”
He added: “Our single focus for the coming years is to release a full line of EFFINITI switches, first to our key partners and later to the broader market, empowering them to build the AI-enabled data centres they need, without limitations.”
Emerging in 2022 as a spin-off from the Eindhoven University of Technology and incubated by HighTechXL, Astrape addresses critical performance bottlenecks by seamlessly introducing dynamic optical bypass capabilities into data centre networks.
Astrape Networks was founded byMarco Camilli,Willem Jan Withagen, and Francesco Pessolano (CEO) — a team of deep-tech entrepreneurs and engineers with proven experience in optical communications, networking infrastructure, and semiconductor systems. Based at the Brainport Eindhoven High Tech Campus, Europe’s largest photonics ecosystem, the company combines academic excellence with practical market experience. “The founding team is committed to redefining network architectures for the next era of performance, while ensuring minimal disruption to existing workflows and market practices,” Pessolano told us.
“The explosive growth of AI and HPC applications has pushed data centres to their limits,” said Pessolano. “Our network solutions optimise server-to-server communication and load balancing, dramatically improving datacenter efficiency and sustainability.”
Astrape Networks was created to address the high energy consumption and inefficiency of data centres through advanced photonics technology. They aim to reduce data centres’ energy footprint using innovative optical networking solutions, specifically by minimising electrical-optical conversions with Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) for faster, more sustainable data transmission.
Pessolano added: “Astrape was founded when we recognised that the market needed a new approach to meet growing network performance demands driven by emerging AI applications. The traditional brute-force method of simply increasing speed and parallelism was becoming increasingly complex, costly, and unsustainable. We believed a smarter, more efficient solution was necessary.”
Astrape’s optical-electronic switching offers a high-performance networking solution to reduce latency, eliminate congestion, and maximise efficiency. Pessolano explained: “With our EFFINITI line of switches, we’re introducing a paradigm shift in data centre networking. EFFINITI eliminates unnecessary data movement, increases GPU/xPU utilisation, and reduces dependency on transceivers. It delivers an efficient, scalable, and sustainable solution for AI-driven data centres, surpassing traditional packet-switched or rigid optical network designs.”
The technology enables networks to handle 50% more traffic while requiring fewer servers for the same computational load. It delivers twice the utilisation rates, expands hop capacity from 0 to 2, and scales to support over 16 million GPUs/xPUs per network, while reducing energy consumption by 60%.
Pessolano added: “Unlike competing technologies, EFFINITI doesn’t require ever-faster transceivers, electronics, or optics, making it inherently more reliable and future-proof. It integrates seamlessly into existing infrastructures, including Ethernet-based architectures, ensuring compatibility with legacy data centres. This enables large-scale xPU networks deployment (up to 16 million nodes or more) without changing the underlying infrastructure.”
Astrape’s patented innovations demonstrate its commitment to market-leading technology, targeting both multi-tenant data centres and hyperscalers such as AWS and Azure. On competition, Pessolano concluded: “We are a networking company developing data centre switches, positioning us in direct competition with major industry players such as Cisco and Arista.”
“Astrape’s unique technology addresses a critical challenge in strategic infrastructure, specifically in data centres and data communications. We’re proud to support this group of entrepreneurs who have successfully demonstrated the solution’s feasibility in the lab,” saidSebastian von Ribbentrop, co-founder of Join Capital.
“Astrape’s technology is a game-changer for data centres. Their solution makes data centres more efficient in terms of energy usage, but also the utilisation of the current infrastructure. We see Astrape as a valuable addition to the strong photonic ecosystem of suppliers and application developers in the Netherlands,” saidIvana Sersic Vollenbroek, Senior Investment Manager at Brabant Development Agency (BOM).