Satlyt Secures $8M to Develop Space-Based AI Data Centres

Satlyt, a space-tech startup headquartered in Nairobi, has successfully raised $8 million in seed funding to advance its vision of building AI data centres in space. The company focuses on developing software that enables satellites to process data and run artificial intelligence applications using existing onboard computers.

Satlyt's long-term goal is to connect computing resources across various satellites, creating what it terms virtual AI data centres. The funding round was led by non sibi ventures, a venture capital firm based in Houston, with participation from several investors including TLCOM, Antler, Slauson & Co., Launch Africa Ventures, Enza Capital, Askya Investment Partners, Demos, BAG Collective, Gaingels, and Axian Investment.

The funds will be utilized to expand Satlyt's engineering and customer delivery teams and to deploy its software on more spacecraft operated by other companies. Currently, Africa holds less than 1% of global data centre capacity, and the GSMA estimates that the continent will need to more than double its hosting capacity by 2030 to meet increasing digital demands.