Satlyt raises $8M to run AI on satellites; software launches on SpaceX on Thursday

Satlyt, a startup split between Sunnyvale and Nairobi, has raised an $8 million seed round to build software that runs AI workloads directly on orbiting satellites.
The round, led by Houston-based Non Sibi Ventures, backs Satlyt's bet on an open, cross-platform software layer that turns disparate orbital hardware into coordinated, virtual space data centres.
The company's software launches Thursday on a SpaceX rocket, sharing the ride with the first hardware prototype of Google's orbital-computing project, Project Suncatcher.
Earlier this year Satlyt deployed Google DeepMind's Gemma model on a Momentus spacecraft, cutting transmission sizes by over 60% — efficiency its founder says can save hundreds of thousands of dollars per satellite.
