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Cowboy Space Lands $275M to Deploy Orbital AI Compute

Cowboy Space raised $275M Series B led by Index Ventures to accelerate deployment of space-based AI infrastructure.

By Raina Gimmel

Baiju Bhatt, Founder of Cowboy Space

The big picture: Cowboy Space Corporation, founded by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, secured $275 million in Series B funding at a $2 billion valuation. The company is developing orbital data centers and rockets to host AI compute in space, addressing Earth’s strained computing systems.

Why it matters:

  • Terrestrial Limits: Earth’s computing systems face increasing strain from AI demand, with data centers encountering power, cooling, and space constraints.
  • Space-Based Solution: Cowboy Space proposes a novel approach by deploying AI infrastructure directly in low Earth orbit, bypassing traditional terrestrial limitations.
  • Integrated Design: The company’s strategy involves designing rockets and orbital data centers as a single, integrated system to maximize efficiency and computing power delivered to space.

How it works:

  • LEO Network: Cowboy Space is building a network of solar-powered low Earth orbit satellites, each designed to function as a one-megawatt data center.
  • Proprietary Launch: The company is developing its own launch vehicle to send these integrated satellite-data center units into space.
  • NVIDIA Collaboration: Cowboy is partnering with NVIDIA to deploy NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin Modules, bringing advanced AI infrastructure to the LEO environment.

The catch: The concept of orbital data centers faces significant challenges, including the immense cost and complexity of space launches, radiation hardening for electronics, and reliable high-bandwidth data transmission back to Earth. While promising, the long-term economic viability and regulatory hurdles for such large-scale space infrastructure remain unproven against established terrestrial solutions.

Key Facts

  • Company: Cowboy Space Corporation
  • Amount: $275M
  • Round: Series B
  • Investors: Index Ventures (lead), IVP, Blossom Capital, SAIC, Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures
  • Founder: Baiju Bhatt
  • Valuation: $2,000,000,000
  • Sector: SpaceTech
  • Headquarters: California

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