Eridu Raises $200 Million to Revolutionize AI Networks

Eridu: An Ambitious Fundraising to Transform AI Networks

Eridu, a startup specializing in artificial intelligence networks, recently raised an impressive $200 million in a Series A funding round. This round was heavily oversubscribed, with notable contributions from Socratic Partners, renowned venture capitalist John Doerr, and Matter Venture Partners, among others. With this new influx, Eridu has accumulated a total of $230 million, according to the company.

Drew Perkins: A Veteran of Technological Innovation

Drew Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Eridu, is a pioneer in the field of networking technologies. Since the 1980s, he has been a key player in the development of the Point-to-Point protocol, which has become an essential component of TCP/IP, the fundamental protocol of the Internet. In 1999, he co-founded Lightera Networks, an optical switching company that was sold to Ciena for over $500 million. Later, he founded Infinera, which went public and was sold to Nokia for $2.3 billion in 2025. Perkins also co-founded Gainspeed, which was also sold to Nokia, and more recently, the augmented reality startup Mojo Vision.

A Vision Born from a Conversation with OpenAI

The idea for Eridu took shape after a discussion between Perkins and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, in February 2023. During a small conference, Altman explained to Perkins that the operation of AI and ChatGPT relied on enormous amounts of computation. At the time, Altman mentioned 4,000 GPUs, but today, it involves millions of GPUs. This conversation made Perkins realize that the real challenge for the future of AI lies in improving communication methods between chips, rather than merely increasing their numbers.

A New Approach to AI Networks

By the end of 2023, Perkins met his co-founder, Omar Hassen, a chip design expert who had worked for major industry players like Broadcom and Marvell. Together, they founded Eridu in 2024, aiming to rethink computing networks by integrating more networking features directly onto the chips. This innovation could replace traditional optical connections with on-chip communications, thereby reducing latency and energy costs.

Eridu plans to sell complete systems that will take the place of traditional networking equipment in an AI data center. These systems will replace many hierarchical optical connections with on-chip communications, reducing the number of hops each bit of data must make, thus decreasing latency.

Massive Support from Investors

The project quickly attracted the attention of investors. Wen Hsieh, managing partner at Matter Venture Partners, played a key role in introducing Eridu to John Doerr, triggering a wave of interest among venture capitalists. Perkins described this fundraising period as "very oversubscribed," adding that his phone did not stop ringing. Hsieh spoke about Eridu to Doerr, after which the legendary former investor from Kleiner Perkins also wanted to get involved, sparking a frenzy among venture capital investors.

The Future of Eridu

Although Perkins did not comment on the exact valuation of the company, he indicated that it was comparable to other fundraising efforts of this scale. With a team of 100 employees, Eridu is well-positioned to become a major player in the expansion of AI data centers. Other investors include Hudson River Trading, Capricorn Investment Group, and several other renowned funds and tech companies.

Perkins emphasized that if Eridu succeeds in delivering a new type of chip and network system tailored for AI, it will be at the heart of the largest data center expansion in history. Unlike a product based on a whim created by a 20-year-old college dropout, the founders of Eridu possess deep experience, a rare asset in today’s Silicon Valley.