Relativity Networks has raised $22 million in SAFE note funding from investors including Rhapsody Venture Partners, alongside securing a $40 million order from an unnamed hyperscaler. The Orlando-based startup is commercializing its ChronoCore hollow-core fiber technology, which transmits light through air rather than glass. This approach cuts latency by roughly 30%, allowing AI data centers to distribute compute across distant campuses to bypass power and land constraints.
Relativity Networks funding round
- ▪The $22 million SAFE note funding round for Relativity Networks was led or joined by Rhapsody Venture Partners, Bell Ventures Inc., and Faster Than Glass LLC.
- ▪Relativity Networks announced a $22 million funding round on August 19, 2026, structured as SAFE notes that will convert into shares during the company's first priced investment round.
- ▪The latest $22 million funding round brings Orlando-based Relativity Networks' total funding to approximately $30 million, following a $4.6 million pre-seed round in February 2025 and a $6.1 million seed round in July 2025.
Hyperscaler follow-on order
- ▪Relativity Networks secured a $40 million follow-on order from an unnamed leading hyperscaler alongside its August 2026 funding round.
- ▪Relativity Networks will direct its newly secured resources toward commercializing and developing its ChronoCore hollow-core fiber technology for high-speed data center connectivity.
Hollow-core fiber technology
- ▪Relativity Networks integrates its hollow-core fiber with existing single-mode fiber infrastructure using proprietary couplers and connectors, avoiding the need to replace deployed fiber cable worldwide.
- ▪Relativity Networks' hollow-core fiber technology transmits light through a vacuum or air channel in the center of the line instead of the solid glass core used in traditional fiber optic cables.
- ▪Relativity Networks' ChronoCore technology is built on more than ten years of research at the University of Central Florida's CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, which received over $10 million in investment.
Data center latency reduction
- ▪CEO Jason Eisenholz stated that conventional fiber optic lines transmit a signal one kilometer in roughly five microseconds, whereas Relativity Networks' hollow-core fiber reduces this latency to 3.4 or 3.5 microseconds.
- ▪Relativity Networks' hollow-core fiber transmits data roughly 30% to 47% faster than conventional fiber, bringing transmission speeds closer to the theoretical speed of light.
Multi-campus compute distribution
- ▪Relativity Networks' technology allows data center operators to site facilities further from users or each other, near cheaper and more abundant energy sources, to bypass power grid and land constraints.
- ▪The 30% reduction in latency allows data center developers to span 30% larger physical distances between facilities before latency degrades performance, enabling multi-campus deployments to operate as a single synchronized machine.
Prysmian manufacturing partnership
- ▪Relativity Networks announced a strategic partnership with Prysmian, the world's largest cable manufacturer, in March 2025 to scale production.
- ▪Production of Relativity Networks' fiber technology will take place at Prysmian's manufacturing facilities in Eindhoven, Netherlands, and in the United States.
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