Ayar Labs
Ayar Labs makes optical interconnect hardware for AI systems, aiming to improve performance and reduce costs. The company has raised $875M and employs 257 people.
The growth story
Ayar Labs grew from 88 to 257 employees between 2021 and 2026, raising $875M along the way, most recently a Series E in February 2026.
About
Ayar Labs develops optical input/output solutions that integrate with AI infrastructure to improve data transfer speeds and reduce power consumption. Its products target AI system builders who need to scale compute efficiency as model complexity grows.
The company has raised $875M, including a Series E round in 2026, and employs 257 people. Its optical I/O technology is designed to work with open standards and optimize both AI training and inference workloads.
Founders and leadership
Engineering is the largest function at Ayar Labs, with 91 employees. The company has a median tenure of 2 years, suggesting a relatively young and dynamic workforce.
The Ayar Labs org chart
Mark Wade (President and CEO, Co-Founder) leads 49 mapped leaders with 7 direct reports. Click +N to expand a team; names link to the person’s public profile.
- Vice President of Silicon Engineering, Chief Scientist, and Co-founder at Ayar LabsExecutive
Departments, and which ones grew
Headcount by function: Engineering 107 (+20% YoY), Entrepreneurship 23 (+15% YoY), Business Development 22 (+16% YoY), Quality Assurance 21 (+50% YoY), Operations 16 (+14% YoY), Information Technology 10 (+25% YoY).
Talent flow
Ayar Labs recruits heavily from Intel, Apple, and MIT, with 18, 11, and 9 hires respectively. Alumni often move to NVIDIA, AMD, and Marvell Technology, with NVIDIA being the top destination.
Most common previous employers of Ayar Labs staff: Intel (18), Apple (11), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (9), Cisco (8), University of California, Berkeley (8), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (7). Former Ayar Labs employees most often moved to NVIDIA (9), AMD (4), Marvell Technology (4), Meta (4), nEye.ai (4), Google (3).
Alumni worth knowing
The Ayar Labs mafia
Ayar Labs alumni have founded 3 companies, including Volantis Semiconductor, which employs 19 people.
3Roy Meade, was VP of Manufacturing until 2021Jack Eadie, was Board Observer until 2024Chandru Ramamurthy, was Design Manager until 2023Hiring now
Web traffic
Traffic mix: 24% direct, 49% search, 3% social, 0% paid.
What this company is made of
Most common skills at Ayar Labs: Python (Programming Language) (83), MATLAB (66), Semiconductor Engineering (54), Leadership (51), C (Programming Language) (50), C++ (47), Verilog (42), Microsoft Office (42).
Where the team actually sits
Ayar Labs people are concentrated in California, United States (83), San Francisco Bay Area (39), United States (9), Massachusetts, United States (6). 2 offices on record.
Search footprint
Ayar Labs attracts about 1,427 organic search visits a month, traffic worth roughly $4K a month if bought through ads. It gained 253 ranking keywords and lost 189 in the last period.
What employees say
- Compensation
- 4.20 / 5
- Career opportunities
- 4.60 / 5
- Senior management
- 4.30 / 5
- Work-life balance
- 4.40 / 5
Frequently asked
Ayar Labs has 257 employees as of September 2026.
Ayar Labs has raised $875M in total, most recently a Series E round in February 2026.
Ayar Labs was founded in 2015 by Mark Wade, Miloš Popović, Vladimir Stojanovic, Chen Sun.
Mark Wade (President and CEO, Co-Founder) sits at the top of Ayar Labs's reporting structure, with 7 direct reports.
The most common previous employers of current Ayar Labs staff are Intel (18 people), Apple (11 people), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (9 people).
Former Ayar Labs employees most often move to NVIDIA (9), AMD (4), Marvell Technology (4).
At least 3 companies have a founder who previously worked at Ayar Labs, including Volantis Semiconductor, Funding Better, Inflextech.
Ayar Labs attracts about 1,427 organic search visits a month, worth roughly $4K a month in equivalent ad spend.
The most common skills among Ayar Labs staff are Python (Programming Language), MATLAB, Semiconductor Engineering, Leadership, C (Programming Language).
Ayar Labs staff are concentrated in California, United States (83), San Francisco Bay Area (39), United States (9).
Ayar Labs has about 107 people in Engineering, up 20% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Ayar Labs has about 23 people in Entrepreneurship, up 15% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Computed from 172 current and 111 former Ayar Labs profiles, as of September 2026. Source: Crustdata.
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