Satlyt Raises $8M to Run AI on Satellites

Satlyt has raised an $8 million seed round to build software that runs AI models on satellites. The company was co-founded by Rama Afullo, a Kenyan American engineer who previously worked in Google’s cloud computing business and at SpaceX’s Starlink communications network in 2024. Satlyt is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and Nairobi.

The round was led by Houston-based Non Sibi Ventures. The company’s pitch is focused on software for spacecraft, not building satellites of its own.

Satlyt wants to be the “Android” of orbital computing, offering software that can work across many companies’ satellites rather than a closed, all-in-one system. Afullo compared the company’s approach to platforms like VMware and Snowflake, which let users run complex software without managing the underlying infrastructure.

That positioning matters as SpaceX, Google, and other startups pursue space data center efforts. Satlyt’s opportunity is to become a third-party software provider for spacecraft builders that want onboard AI capabilities.

Satlyt is initially targeting operational efficiency for spacecraft. Satellites often rely on ground-based flight controllers, while downlinking data back to Earth can be expensive and slow.

The company has already flown software on two demonstration missions. In one example, Satlyt deployed Google DeepMind’s Gemma AI model onboard a spacecraft operated by Momentus, cutting the size of a transmission about onboard software errors by more than 60%.

Satlyt’s software is set to launch Thursday on a SpaceX rocket alongside the first prototype for Google’s Project Suncatcher. The upcoming mission will run on a spacecraft built by TakeMe2Space and involves NASA, Stellerian, and TakeMe2Space as customers.

The company’s next project is to demonstrate a shared computing system spanning two different satellites, which it expects to attempt next year. Afullo’s stated goal is for Satlyt to be live on 20% of satellites by the end of the decade.