Satlyt, founded by a former Google and SpaceX product manager, raises $8M to run AI on satellites
Satlyt, a startup founded by former Google and SpaceX product manager Rama Afullo, has raised $8 million to develop software for running AI models directly on satellites. The company aims to create an open, horizontally integrated ecosystem for orbital computing, with its software launching soon on a SpaceX rocket.
Why it matters
This development signifies a growing trend towards decentralized computing in space, potentially revolutionizing satellite operations, data processing, and the capabilities of space-based AI applications.
The way Rama Afullo tells it, he saw orbital data centers coming.
The Kenyan American engineer previously worked in Google’s cloud computing business before a brief stint at SpaceX’s Starlink communications network in 2024. His experiences convinced him that there was untapped potential for computers in space.
“When I was at SpaceX, I tried to pitch this internally. They said no. When I was at Google, I tried to pitch this internally. They said no,” he tells TechCrunch.
So he left SpaceX and co-founded Satlyt , a new company with headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, and Nairobi, to build software for satellites that he hopes will let many satellites share the work of large computing jobs in space. The company has raised an $8 million seed round, Afullo exclusively told TechCrunch.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in