Satlyt raised an $8M seed round to build software that lets many satellites divide up large computing jobs while in orbit.
Founder Rama Afullo worked in Google’s cloud business and spent time on SpaceX’s Starlink network before leaving to start the company, which is based in Sunnyvale with a second office in Nairobi.
He told TechCrunch he proposed the idea inside both employers and was turned down at each, which convinced him the opportunity needed a separate company.
The timing shifted in his favor. SpaceX has since committed heavily to orbital data centers, and Satlyt’s software is set to fly on a SpaceX rocket alongside hardware for that effort.
The technical problem is coordination. Computing jobs typically assume fast, reliable links between machines. Satellites pass in and out of contact, move at high speed relative to one another and see intermittent ground coverage.
Satlyt’s approach treats a constellation as a distributed system, scheduling work across whichever satellites are in position rather than centralizing it.
Orbital compute remains an expensive answer to a terrestrial problem. Cheaper energy and cooling in space are the draw, and both depend on launch costs continuing to fall.
