卫星AI软件公司Satlyt获800万美元种子轮
由前 Google 和 SpaceX 产品经理 Rama Afullo 联合创立的 Satlyt 获得 800 万美元种子轮融资，由休斯顿的 Non Sibi Ventures 领投。公司总部设在加州 Sunnyvale 与肯尼亚内罗毕，专注为卫星开发可在轨运行 AI 模型的软件，不自建航天器，而是希望做跨厂商的开放软件层。Satlyt 此前在 Momentus 运营的航天器上部署了 Google DeepMind 的 Gemma 模型，据公司称把一次机载软件错误的数据传输量缩减了 60% 以上。本周其软件将随 SpaceX 火箭升空，运行在印度初创公司 TakeMe2Space 制造的卫星上，客户包括 NASA 和空间监视公司 Stellerian；公司计划明年尝试让软件跨两颗卫星组成共享计算系统。
在“太空数据中心”概念存在经济性与发射瓶颈争议之际，把 AI 推理放到卫星上并做跨厂商软件层，是一条更务实、更易落地的路径。
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.
The timing looks good for him. SpaceX has since gone all-in on orbital data centers, and Satlyt’s software is set to launch Thursday on a SpaceX rocket alongside the first prototype for Google’s space data center effort, Project Suncatcher.
Unlike SpaceX, Google, or startups like Starcloud and Cowboy Space Company, Satlyt isn’t planning to build its own spacecraft. Afullo’s team is building the software to operate AI models on satellites, comparing his approach to VMware and Snowflake — companies whose platforms let users run complex software without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
#Satlyt#Rama Afullo#Non Sibi Ventures#Google DeepMind#Gemma#SpaceX#TakeMe2Space#NASA#Stellerian#Momentus#Project Suncatcher