Kenyan-American Startup Satlyt Raises $8 Million to Build AI Computing Infrastructure in Space
Kenyan-American technology startup Satlyt has raised $8 million in seed funding to develop software that allows satellites to process data and run artificial intelligence models while in orbit, positioning the Nairobi-based company at the intersection of African innovation, AI and the emerging space economy.
The funding round, led by US-based Non Sibi Ventures, will support Satlyt’s development of what it describes as virtual AI data centres in space, while expanding its engineering and customer delivery teams and increasing deployment of its software across spacecraft operated by other companies.
Founded by Kenyan-American engineer Rama Afullo, Satlyt operates from Sunnyvale, California, and Nairobi, Kenya. Afullo previously worked in Google’s cloud computing business and at SpaceX’s Starlink network, experiences that helped shape his interest in the potential of computing infrastructure in orbit.
Rather than building its own satellites, Satlyt is developing the software layer that allows existing spacecraft to perform more computing onboard.
Satellites routinely collect large volumes of imagery, measurements and system information, but much of that data has traditionally been sent back to Earth for processing. Satlyt’s technology is designed to move more of that processing onto the spacecraft itself, allowing data to be analysed closer to where it is collected.
The approach could reduce the amount of information that needs to be transmitted to Earth, lower communications demands and allow satellite operators to receive useful information more quickly.
Satlyt has already demonstrated the potential of onboard AI. Earlier this year, the company deployed Google DeepMind’s Gemma AI model on a Momentus spacecraft, where it was used to analyse system logs, software errors and other information directly in orbit. The deployment reduced the size of a transmission related to onboard software errors by more than 60 percent.
The company is now working toward a broader vision in which computing resources across different satellites can work together through a shared software layer.
Its latest deployment is expected to support research and commercial applications on a spacecraft operated by TakeMe2Space, an Indian space technology company. The mission also involves NASA and Stellerian, a company focused on space surveillance.
For Satlyt, the longer-term opportunity goes beyond making individual satellites more efficient. The company wants to create an infrastructure layer that allows organisations to deploy and operate software across spacecraft owned by different operators, effectively creating a cloud computing environment in orbit.
“Running applications on existing spacecraft gives operators a way to do more with the computing hardware they already have in orbit,” Afullo, Satlyt’s founder and CEO, said. “Our job is to make those applications practical to deploy and operate.”
The latest investment will help Satlyt move toward its next stage of development, including its plan to demonstrate computing workloads across multiple satellites.
With its African headquarters in Nairobi and a substantial engineering presence in Kenya, Satlyt is also highlighting the growing role of African talent in emerging areas of deep technology.
The company’s investors include TLCOM, Antler, Slauson & Co., Launch Africa Ventures, Enza Capital, Askya Investment Partners, Demos, BAG Collective, Gaingels and Axian Investment, alongside existing investors.
Satlyt’s expansion comes as technology companies and major global players increasingly explore the possibility of moving computing infrastructure beyond Earth. By focusing on software rather than spacecraft manufacturing, the Kenyan-American startup is taking a different route into the emerging market, using technology to make computing hardware already in orbit more useful.
