Former Google and SpaceX Employee Raises $8 Million for AI Software
The Satlyt startup, founded by Rama Afullo, has completed a significant funding round by raising $8 million to run artificial intelligence models on satellites and share workloads.
Satlyt, founded by former Google and SpaceX employee Rama Afullo, has successfully concluded an $8 million seed funding round for its software enabling inter-satellite artificial intelligence and data sharing.
Details of the Investment Round
Kenyan-American engineer Rama Afullo raised $8 million in seed funding for Satlyt, a software startup aiming to run artificial intelligence on satellites, led by Houston-based Non Sibi Ventures.
Investors Bernard Harris and Kent Lucas also participated in this funding round, supporting the startup's projects.
The Emergence Process of the Startup
Rama Afullo previously worked in Google's cloud computing unit and briefly served in SpaceX's Starlink communication network in 2024.
Recognizing the potential for computing in space during this period, Afullo pitched the idea as internal projects at both companies but received negative responses and subsequently left.
Structure and Goals of Satlyt
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and Nairobi, Satlyt is developing a software infrastructure that enables satellites to jointly share computing tasks in space.
The company positions itself as a third-party platform that allows satellites to run artificial intelligence models without needing to build their own dedicated infrastructure.
Applications of the Software in Space
Earlier in the year, Satlyt deployed Google DeepMind's Gemma AI onto a spacecraft operated by Momentus, reducing data transmission volume by more than 60 percent.
The startup's future goal is to create a collaborative computing cloud spanning multiple satellites and to be operational on 20 percent of all satellites by the end of the decade.