The idea of running artificial intelligence workloads in space has moved another step closer to reality after Satlyt, a space-tech startup with African headquarters in Nairobi, raised $8 million in seed funding to develop its vision of virtual AI data centres in orbit.
The company is taking a different approach to space infrastructure. Rather than building new satellites specifically to function as data centres, Satlyt develops software that allows existing spacecraft to use their onboard computing hardware for additional applications, including artificial intelligence and data processing.
The funding round was led by Houston-based non sibi ventures, with participation from TLCOM, Antler, Slauson & Co., Launch Africa Ventures, Enza Capital, Askya Investment Partners, Demos, BAG Collective, Gaingels and Axian Investment, among others. Satlyt plans to use the capital to expand its engineering and customer-delivery teams and deploy its software across more spacecraft.
The opportunity is tied to a growing problem on Earth. Artificial intelligence is increasing demand for computing infrastructure, while conventional data centres require enormous amounts of electricity, physical space and connectivity. Africa faces an additional challenge: the continent currently accounts for less than 1% of global data-centre capacity, even as demand for digital infrastructure continues to rise.
Satlyt’s proposition is to make better use of computing capacity that already exists in orbit.
Satellites normally use onboard computers for functions such as controlling spacecraft systems and managing the data collected by sensors. Satlyt’s software allows some of that computing capacity to be repurposed for applications that can analyse information directly in space.
That could reduce the amount of raw data that satellites need to transmit back to Earth before it can be processed. Instead, a spacecraft could analyse information onboard and send only the results or the most important data to ground stations.
The company’s longer-term ambition is considerably bigger: connect computing resources across satellites operated by different organisations and create what it describes as virtual AI data centres in space. The concept is still a future objective rather than an already operating orbital data-centre network.
Satlyt says its technology is already operating in orbit and that it has worked with organisations including NASA and Google. One earlier demonstration involved Google’s Gemma AI model running on a satellite and analysing system logs without first sending the information back to Earth.
The startup is also working with the University of Houston through NASA’s Small Business Technology Transfer programme on delay-tolerant networking technology. Such technology could become important if spacecraft from different operators are eventually expected to exchange data and computing workloads despite the communication delays inherent in space.
For Satlyt, the $8 million investment is therefore not simply a bet on putting servers into orbit. It is a bet on turning spacecraft into computing platforms.
If the technology scales, satellites could become more than communication or observation tools. They could form part of a distributed computing layer capable of processing data closer to where it is generated.
That vision remains technically and commercially challenging. But with fresh capital, Satlyt now has more resources to test whether the computers already orbiting Earth can become part of the next generation of AI infrastructure.
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