Arago

The company was founded by Nicolas Muller (CEO), Eliott Sarrey, and Ambroise Müller, whose collective expertise spans photonics, electronics, software, and machine learning. Nicolas Muller's background includes studies in finance, economics, and machine learning at MIT and experience at a semiconductor startup, where a chance meeting with his co-founders, both physicists, sparked the venture. Headquartered in Paris, with operations in North America and Israel, Arago has brought together a team of approximately 20 engineers and scientists from prominent tech companies and research institutions.

Arago's main offering is a proprietary photonic processor, codenamed "JEF," built upon a hybrid architecture that integrates photonics with electronics and software. This multi-physics computing platform is designed to overcome the performance barriers that have historically affected photonic processors. To ensure broad adoption and ease of use for its clients, primarily AI developers and researchers, Arago developed a dedicated software stack called CARLOTA®. This software interfaces directly with standard industry frameworks like PyTorch, abstracting the hardware's complexity and allowing developers to deploy AI models without altering their existing codebases. The business model appears centered on the commercialization of this photonic processor and its associated software, targeting enterprises in the AI and computational industries. A recent milestone includes securing $26 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round to accelerate product development and team expansion. Keywords: photonic AI chips, energy-efficient computing, semiconductor, AI hardware, deep-tech, optical computing, data center efficiency, AI accelerator, photonics, Nicolas Muller, Eliott Sarrey, Ambroise Müller, JEF processor, CARLOTA software, high-performance computing, machine learning infrastructure, multi-physics computing, GPU alternative, AI energy consumption, Paris startup