Upscale AI launched today with more than $100 million in seed funding to build open-standard, high-performance networking infrastructure for artificial intelligence. The Palo Alto–based startup, incubated by Auradine, is led by CEO Barun Kar and Executive Chairman Rajiv Khemani, both serial entrepreneurs with track records at Palo Alto Networks, Cavium, and Innovium. The seed round was co-led by Mayfield and Maverick Silicon, with participation from StepStone Group, Celesta Capital, Xora, Qualcomm Ventures, Cota Capital, MVP Ventures, and Stanford University.
The company’s portfolio will combine silicon, systems, and software for ultra-low latency AI interconnects. Its solutions are built on SONiC, Ultra Accelerator Link (UAL), Ultra Ethernet (UE), Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI), and other open technologies. Initial products will include AI Network Fabrics for xPU maximization, a hardened open-standards NOS based on SAI/SONiC, and rack-scale networking platforms for multivendor environments. Upscale AI is active in industry groups such as the Ultra Ethernet Consortium, UAL, Open Compute Project, and SONiC Foundation.
Founders Kar and Khemani said Upscale AI aims to provide scalable and interoperable AI networking as AI workloads accelerate beyond the capabilities of general-purpose compute and legacy networks. “From enterprise networking to building cloud infrastructure, Upscale AI’s team has been at the center of every major computing shift over the past 20 years,” said Kar.
• Seed funding: $100M+, co-led by Mayfield and Maverick Silicon, with support from Qualcomm Ventures, StepStone, Celesta Capital, Cota Capital, Xora, MVP Ventures, and Stanford University
• Incubation: Backed by Auradine, with executive chairman Rajiv Khemani also serving as Auradine CEO
• Founders: Barun Kar (CEO) and Rajiv Khemani (Executive Chairman), veterans of Palo Alto Networks, Cavium, and Innovium
• Technology base: SONiC, UAL, UE, SAI, OCP, and other open-standard platforms
• Product focus: AI network fabrics, open-standards NOS, rack-scale platforms for heterogeneous compute environments
“From enterprise networking to building cloud infrastructure, Upscale AI’s team has been at the center of every major computing shift over the past 20 years,” said Barun Kar, CEO of Upscale AI. “Now, our world-class team is applying its depth and breadth of expertise to the next frontier: open AI-native infrastructure.”
🌐 Analysis: Upscale AI enters a rapidly heating segment of the market, where companies like Broadcom, Marvell, and NVIDIA are shaping the next generation of ultra-low latency interconnects. By anchoring its portfolio in SONiC, UAL, and UE, the company positions itself as a counterweight to proprietary systems while aligning with the momentum of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium. The $100M+ seed round underscores investor conviction that AI networking has become a bottleneck and a $20+ billion market opportunity.
Upscale AI’s founding team draws heavily from prior successes in networking silicon and infrastructure startups.
• Rajiv Khemani, Executive Chairman – Previously co-founder and CEO of Innovium, a semiconductor startup that built high-performance Ethernet switch silicon for cloud and data center operators. Innovium gained traction against incumbents like Broadcom before being acquired by Marvell in 2021. Khemani is also CEO of Auradine, the infrastructure company that incubated Upscale AI, and earlier held senior leadership roles at Cavium (also acquired by Marvell).
• Barun Kar, CEO – Formerly Vice President of Engineering at Palo Alto Networks, where he led large-scale product development across security platforms. Kar later became a co-founder at Auradine, helping to define its blockchain and AI compute infrastructure portfolio. At Upscale AI, he brings experience in scaling software and hardware teams to deliver cloud-grade platforms.
• Other founding team members – Several technologists joined from Innovium’s core architecture and engineering groups, bringing expertise in Ethernet switching, low-latency fabrics, and data center interconnects. The team also includes veterans from Broadcom, Marvell, Intel, Cisco, AWS, Microsoft, Google, Juniper Networks, and Palo Alto Networks.
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