Netris Raises $15M from Andreessen Horowitz to Automate AI Data Center Networking Networking startup Netris has secured $15 million in new funding as artificial intelligence drives a rush to build GPU-powered “neocloud” data centers, exposing a critical bottleneck: getting complex networks configured fast enough.

Early challenges in the AI data center boom

As AI demand surged, a wave of new data center operators entered the market, often without the deep networking teams long enjoyed by hyperscalers. Spinning up facilities for AI training and inference could still take months, leaving costly GPUs idle while engineers configured thousands of links and switches. Neocloud operators faced the same technical hurdles that giants like AWS and Google had already solved internally, but without comparable resources.

Netris’ approach to network automation

Santa Clara–based Netris positioned itself to address this gap by automating the networking layer inside GPU data centers. Its software runs directly on network switches and connects to them via a platform that automates setup, configuration, and operations for neocloud operators, reducing the time it takes these GPU clouds to go live. The company brands its model NAAM — Network Automation, Abstraction, and Multi-Tenancy — providing hardware-level isolation so operators can safely serve multiple customers while maintaining flexibility in hardware choices.

Funding, traction, and competing philosophies

On June 25, 2026, Netris announced a $15 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, citing 800% annual recurring revenue growth and more than 35 live GPU cluster deployments worldwide. Customers include Lightning AI, Foxconn-backed Visionbay, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, TensorWave, and Telus, reflecting broad interest from both startups and established infrastructure players.

CEO Alex Saroyan contrasts Netris’ hardware-accelerated design with traditional software-defined networking (SDN), arguing that SDN “is falling short” for AI because traffic volumes demand hardware acceleration. While incumbents like Equinix and major cloud providers have custom-built their own automation stacks, Netris is betting that a vendor-agnostic, off-the-shelf platform can become the default for the growing class of neocloud operators racing to bring AI capacity online.

[1] “Netris raises $15M Series A from a16z to automate the networking that slows down GPU clouds“ — Netris’ funding, growth metrics, NAAM model, and early GPU cluster deployments.

[2] “Netris raises $15M Series A from a16z to help AI neoclouds go live faster“ — Context on AI data center challenges, Netris’ platform design, and Saroyan’s critique of SDN for AI workloads.

Continue reading https://foxvector.com/stories/019f0119-e8a8-3641-72f0-3601c0f4ba9f