Kenyan-Founded Satlyt Raises $8M to Run AI on Satellites After Google and SpaceX Said No to Its Founder

Satlyt, a startup based in Sunnyvale and Nairobi that builds software to run artificial intelligence on satellites, has raised $8 million in seed funding led by non sibi ventures, TechCrunch reports. Its founder, the Kenyan American engineer Rama Afullo, says he tried to build it inside two of the biggest names in technology first.

The Founder Who Was Told No

Afullo previously worked in Google's cloud division and on SpaceX's Starlink programme. "When I was at SpaceX, I tried to pitch this internally. They said no. When I was at Google, I tried to pitch this internally. They said no," he told TechCrunch. Satlyt is what he built after leaving.

What Satlyt Builds

Satlyt does not make satellites. It makes the software that lets existing satellites run AI models and share computing power between them, which Ventureburn describes as a horizontal operating system for space, closer to an enterprise software company than a space manufacturer. Afullo draws the comparison to phones. "The folks like SpaceX who are doing orbital data centers, if they are the iPhone, we'll build Android as a horizontally integrated, open ecosystem," he said. On putting hardware into orbit without computing power, he was blunt: "If you're putting up a satellite without putting up a GPU on it, at the very least, you're doing yourself a disservice."

What It Has Already Shown

Earlier this year Satlyt ran Google DeepMind's Gemma model on a Momentus spacecraft, and the size of data transmissions about software errors dropped by more than 60 percent, Ventureburn reports. Afullo says the savings can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars per satellite every year. On this week's mission, Satlyt's customers include NASA, which is testing cloud protocols, the space surveillance company Stellerian, and TakeMe2Space, which is demonstrating multi-tenant capabilities, TechCrunch reports.

Source: Satlyt on LinkedIn

The Nairobi Link

Satlyt keeps headquarters in both Sunnyvale and Nairobi. It is a US-headquartered company with a Kenyan American founder, so the African link is its Nairobi base and Afullo's roots more than a Nairobi-only operation. It sits alongside the founders PINCHED has followed this week, including HubPharm Africa, the Nigerian health-tech startup that won the ECOWAS Startup Awards, as another African-rooted company building across borders.

What to Watch Next

The seed money will fund a shared computing system spanning two satellites in 2027, built as a cloud service that third parties can use, TechCrunch reports. Ventureburn says the round puts Satlyt in the top 5 percent of US enterprise software seed deals by capital raised. The test is whether customers beyond the first few sign on once the shared system is live.

This article is a news report on the funding announcement, and PINCHED has not tested the company's software.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Satlyt?

Satlyt is a startup based in Sunnyvale and Nairobi that builds software for running AI on satellites and sharing computing power between them.

How Much Did Satlyt Raise?

$8 million in seed funding, led by non sibi ventures.

Who Founded Satlyt?

Rama Afullo, a Kenyan American engineer who previously worked at Google's cloud division and on SpaceX's Starlink programme.

Does Satlyt Build Satellites?

No. It builds software that lets satellites run AI models and share computing resources.

What Is Satlyt Planning Next?

A shared computing system spanning two satellites in 2027, offered to third parties as a cloud service.