Key Takeaways
- • BDC Capital won the 2026 Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA) VC Deal of the Year Award, sponsored by CIBC, for its investment in Hyperlume, an Ottawa-based deep technology company acquired by Credo Technology.
- • Hyperlume has raised $13.5 million across multiple investors including ArcTern Ventures, Creative Destruction Lab, Deeptech Ventures, and HAX, with BDC Capital as a lead backer of the technology startup.
- • Hyperlume addresses a critical infrastructure bottleneck in AI data centers by replacing copper cables with microLED optical interconnects that use light-based transmission, reducing heat generation and electricity consumption in high-performance computing environments.
- • The company was founded in 2022 by electrical engineers Mohsen Asad and Hossein Fariborzi, whose complementary expertise in optics and low-power circuit design directly informed the development of the optical interconnect technology.
- • BDC Capital, Canada's largest early-stage venture capital investor with a portfolio of 328 companies including 12 unicorns, has a track record of Deal of the Year recognition, having won the CVCA award in 2011, 2012, and 2014 for exits including Radian6.
Summary
BDC Capital secured the 2026 CVCA VC Deal of the Year Award for its backing of Hyperlume, a deep technology startup headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. The award, sponsored by CIBC, recognizes BDC Capital's role in supporting the company through its development and eventual acquisition by Credo Technology. According to central.cvca.ca, this recognition underscores BDC Capital's continued prominence in identifying and nurturing transformational technology investments within Canada's venture ecosystem.
Hyperlume was founded in 2022 by electrical engineers Mohsen Asad and Hossein Fariborzi, who met as doctoral students and identified a fundamental constraint limiting next-generation AI infrastructure. Both founders recognized that as AI models become increasingly sophisticated, the bottleneck shifted from raw computing power to data movement efficiency. Asad, who pursued doctoral studies at Canada's University of Waterloo, specializes in optics, while Fariborzi, who studied at MIT, brings expertise in low-power electrical circuit design. Their combined technical capabilities enabled them to develop a proprietary solution addressing this critical infrastructure challenge.
The company's core innovation replaces traditional copper cables with specialized microLED optical interconnects that transmit data using light rather than electrical signals. Copper-based connections in data centers generate substantial heat and consume significant electricity—both increasingly problematic constraints as AI workloads scale. Hyperlume's optical interconnect technology delivers faster communication speeds and substantially lower energy consumption, directly addressing cost and performance limitations that threaten to impede AI infrastructure expansion.
Hyperlume has attracted investment from a diverse syndicate of venture backers, having raised $13.5 million to date. Beyond BDC Capital, the investor group includes ArcTern Ventures, Creative Destruction Lab, Deeptech Ventures, and HAX. BDC Capital, Canada's largest and most active early-stage venture capital investor, maintains a portfolio of 328 companies and has consistently demonstrated expertise in identifying high-impact technology exits. The firm's previous Deal of the Year recognition for the Radian6 acquisition in 2011, 2012, and 2014 illustrates its sustained track record in backing transformational companies.
Hyperlume was founded in 2022 by electrical engineers Mohsen Asad and Hossein Fariborzi, who met as doctoral students and identified a fundamental constraint limiting next-generation AI infrastructure. Both founders recognized that as AI models become increasingly sophisticated, the bottleneck shifted from raw computing power to data movement efficiency. Asad, who pursued doctoral studies at Canada's University of Waterloo, specializes in optics, while Fariborzi, who studied at MIT, brings expertise in low-power electrical circuit design. Their combined technical capabilities enabled them to develop a proprietary solution addressing this critical infrastructure challenge.
The company's core innovation replaces traditional copper cables with specialized microLED optical interconnects that transmit data using light rather than electrical signals. Copper-based connections in data centers generate substantial heat and consume significant electricity—both increasingly problematic constraints as AI workloads scale. Hyperlume's optical interconnect technology delivers faster communication speeds and substantially lower energy consumption, directly addressing cost and performance limitations that threaten to impede AI infrastructure expansion.
Hyperlume has attracted investment from a diverse syndicate of venture backers, having raised $13.5 million to date. Beyond BDC Capital, the investor group includes ArcTern Ventures, Creative Destruction Lab, Deeptech Ventures, and HAX. BDC Capital, Canada's largest and most active early-stage venture capital investor, maintains a portfolio of 328 companies and has consistently demonstrated expertise in identifying high-impact technology exits. The firm's previous Deal of the Year recognition for the Radian6 acquisition in 2011, 2012, and 2014 illustrates its sustained track record in backing transformational companies.
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