Pulling Back the Curtain on a DSP Market Disruptor – 10Fold Launches Retym from Stealth Mode

Situation 

Retym is a semiconductor and AI infrastructure company developing programmable coherent DSP silicon chips for cloud and AI data centers. The company aims to capture a share of the $1 trillion1 projected to be spent on AI infrastructure over the next decade by delivering cost-efficient, high-performance coherent DSP solutions.  

The coherent DSP market is dominated by Marvell (80% market share), with Acacia Communications and Infinera as smaller players. These incumbents only sell complete DSP solutions at premium prices, forcing customers to buy expensive “Swiss army knife” DSPs. Hyperscalers are frustrated with these costly solutions. 

Co-founders Sachin Gandhi (CEO) and Dr. Roni El-Bahar (CTO) identified an opportunity to disrupt this market by offering standalone, low-cost, low-power 800G coherent solutions for Data Center Interconnect. This approach creates cost-effective options for hyperscalers such as Google, AWS and Microsoft) and OEM vendors, for example, Juniper, Dell, Arista, and HP. 

With $182 million total investment and a product in tape-out, Retym expects customer delivery in Q4 2025/Q1 2026. 

Objectives 

10Fold was engaged to launch and establish awareness for Retym as they launched from stealth mode with a $72 million Series D funding announcement. Key goals: 

  • Disrupting the market with a coherent DSP designed for AI-focused data centers, establishing customer preference with those struggling with vendor lock-in and the high costs associated with building data centers designed for processing AI-based applications 
  • Establish Sachin Gandhi as an industry expert in the media- leveraging his vast experience in the chip industry to validate Retym as an early-stage chip company. 
  • Educate the industry and delay buying cycles for those that may benefit from an alternative solution for shorter-haul AI processing that needs.   
  • Leverage key industry-renowned investors Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Alif Semiconductor and Spark Capital to support GTM messaging.  

Challenges 

To ensure success 10Fold hit the ground running and flexed our creative muscles to navigate several challenges: 

  • Short lead time – we only had two weeks to deliver on a launch that spanned across media, analysts, social media and influencers. 
  • Working around a previously agreed-upon exclusive – secured prior to 10Fold’s involvement – 10Fold had to manage when other publications could launch their coverage. 
  • 10Fold was asked not to reveal product details to save material for future announcements.  

Plan 

Discovery 

  • We began with exploratory calls with Retym executives to drive messaging around how the funding will be used, thoughts from the VCs, and to determine the best way to structure the messaging around what is a relatively small amount of funding for this industry. 
  • We researched competitors extensively, sourced information from the founders and CMO, as well as the lead venture firm. 

Media and Analyst Relations 

  • Navigated around an exclusive opportunity negotiated by the lead VC with a tier one business outlet. 
  • Defined high impact messages and excluded most of the product details. 
  • Focused on the use case for AI data centers – which put the funding front and center with many business journalists despite the smaller amount.  
  • Created targeted media and analyst lists in cooperation with the venture PR contact – specifically managing the exclusive. 
  • Created targeted pitches tailored for business press, trade and industry press and analysts. 
  • Drafted, edited, and distributed the press release to all parties that agreed to the embargo. 
  • Ensured industry analysts and social influencers were briefed (including 8 meetings with those that cover the DSP marketplace).   

Social Media Program 

  • Created a social media campaign strategy focused on increasing awareness and engagement to complement the news and amplify coverage.   
  • Introduced and engaged Retym’s CEO as a key spokesperson and focus of the company as a thought leader. 
  • Introduced visual branding of Retym on social media. 

Results 

Public Relations Wins 

  • In terms of pre-announcement interest, 11 editors (4 business, 7 trade) requested the release under embargo, along with 4 key industry analysts.  
  • 10Fold secured in excess of 9 briefings with media and analysts. Although we knew that our business publications may not print due to the previously arranged exclusive, we wanted to build a relationship with key journals. This was accomplished with an offer from New York Times to run the exclusive on the product when it was ready.  
  • Overall, there were 37 unique articles in Tier 1 and 2 publications. 
  • The amount of media coverage increased to 70 in the week following the published funding announcement. Several editors published to multiple platforms and extensive “day of” pitching saw healthy traction. There were numerous syndicated pickups directly from the news wire. 
  • The announcement occurred at the “WHAT?” Conference, located in Santa Clara, CA that caters to “WHO?” and Retym captured huge attention from attendees – creating massive booth traffic. 

Business Press Briefings  

  • New York Times – Don Clark 
  • Business Insider – Emma Cosgrove 
  • MergerMarket – Michelle Cheng 

Trade Press 

  • Briefings 
  • Converge Network Digest – Jim Carroll 
  • Next Platform – Tim Prickett Morgan 
  • EE Times – Nitin Dahad 
  • Silicon Angle – Kyt Dotson 
  • Release under embargo 
  • Fast Mode – Tara Neal 
  • EE World – Martin Rowe 
  • EE News Europe – Nick Flaherty 
  • Light Counting – Roy Rubenstein 
  • Semiconductor Digest – Pete Singer 

Industry Analyst Briefings 

  • IDC – Brandon Hoff 
  • ABI – Paul Schell 
  • Counterpoint – Gareth Owen/Tony Yick 
  • Gartner – Peter Gillen/Daniel Brommer 

Influencer Briefings 

  • Antonio Grasso – Digital Business Innovation SRL 
  • Linda Grasso – DeltaLogiX 
  • Sheely Kramer – Kramer and Associates 

Coverage 

Between March 31 and April 10, 2025, 70 articles were published globally, with metrics as follows: 

Top Media Coverage 

Influencer and Social Authority Wins 

Starting with no social media presence and a small follower base, Retym needed a visibility boost on LinkedIn (where about 80% of B2B buyers research their vendors). To accomplish this, 10Fold used Brandwatch to identify the top trends from Retym’s competitive set and their ideal customer profile (ICP) interests.  

With no real content to leverage as a call-to-action, 10Fold leveraged the ICP interest data and messaged the implications of Retym’s technology as think-pieces that encouraged audience engagement. When 10Fold’s editorial team began securing coverage, Retym targeted the reporters and their followers with comments and shares to maximize the reach of the content. 

10Fold also briefed several influencers with the Retym CEO on how the technology worked and what the company’s plans were post-launch. The strategy resulted in each briefed influencer sharing their content and engaging in conversation on the posts.

After just five weeks, Retym received the following metrics on their LinkedIn company page. 

Charting a Path Forward 

10Fold’s campaign showcased the breadth of the agency’s capabilities and expertise across business and trade media, industry analysts, influencer programs and social media. The project brought Retym out of stealth with a Series D funding announcement, securing key media coverage, connecting with key industry analysts, securing influencer support and driving social media all within a five-week period, from campaign conception to completion. 

In addition, seeds were sown with key media and analysts, developing relationships that will be further nurtured as Retym approaches the product launch phase in Q4 2025 or Q1 2026. 

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