Satlyt Raises $8M to Run AI on Satellites

The big picture: Kenyan American engineer Rama Afullo, a former Google and SpaceX product manager, has co-founded Satlyt, a new company building software to enable AI models to run directly on satellites. The company has raised an $8 million seed round to advance its vision of distributed computing in space.

Why it matters:

• Cost Efficiency: Running AI models directly on satellites reduces the need for expensive and slow data downlink to Earth, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of dollars per satellite annually by processing data in orbit.
• Autonomous Operations: Onboard AI allows satellites to make real-time decisions, resolve anomalies, and process sensor readings autonomously, decreasing reliance on ground control and improving operational responsiveness.
• Platform Agnostic: Satlyt aims to create an open, horizontally integrated software ecosystem for space computing, allowing its AI operating system to function across various satellite hardware, similar to how VMware or Snowflake operate.

How it works:

• Software-Only Approach: Unlike competitors building their own spacecraft, Satlyt focuses solely on developing software that allows AI models to run on existing or future satellite infrastructure, treating satellites as revenue-generating managed services.
• Demonstrated Capabilities: Satlyt has already flown its software on two demonstration missions, including deploying Google DeepMind’s Gemma AI model on a Momentus spacecraft, which cut the size of onboard software error transmissions by over 60%.
• Upcoming Missions: The company’s software is set to launch on a SpaceX rocket, onboard a TakeMe2Space spacecraft, to test cloud computing protocols for NASA and image processing workloads for space surveillance startup Stellerian.

The catch: Satlyt faces stiff competition from major players like SpaceX and Google (Project Suncatcher), as well as other startups such as Starcloud and Cowboy Space Company, all pursuing orbital data center capabilities. While Satlyt’s software-only approach offers flexibility, the current scarcity of high-powered GPUs in orbit limits the complexity of AI workloads it can support. Its long-term goal of creating a shared, multi-satellite compute cloud will require significant technical breakthroughs in cross-satellite communication and resource orchestration.

Key Facts

• Company: Satlyt
• Amount: $8M
• Round: Seed
• Investor: Non Sibi Ventures (lead)
• Founder: Rama Afullo
• Announced: 2026-10-01
• Sector: Orbital AI Software
• Headquarters: Sunnyvale, US